"Truly your's,

"LORENZO."

The note was no sooner read than we all, as if by instinct, started up; and, finishing our breakfast as rapidly as did the Trojans when they expected an early visit from the Grecians, we sallied towards Lorenzo's house, and entered his pleasure grounds. Nothing could be more congenial than every circumstance and object which presented itself. The day was clear, calm, and warm; while a crisp autumnal air

Nimbly and sweetly recommend itself Unto our gentle senses.[423]

[Footnote 423: _Macbeth_; Act I., Sc. VI. Dr. Johnson has happily observed, upon the above beautiful passage of Shakespeare, that "_Gentle sense_ is very elegant; as it means _placid_, _calm_, _composed_; and intimates the peaceable delight of a fine day." Shakespeare's Works; edit.

1803; vol x., p. 73. Alain Chartier, in the motto prefixed to the Second part of this Bibliographical Romance, has given us a yet more animated, and equally characteristic, picture. Thomson's serene morning,

Unfolding fair the last autumnal day,

is also very apposite; and reminds us of one of those soft and aerial pictures of Claude Loraine, where a heaven-like tranquillity and peace seem to prevail. Delightful scenes!--we love to steal a short moment from a bustling world, to gaze upon landscapes which appear to have been copied from the paradise of our first parents. Delusive yet fascinating objects of contemplation! You whisper sweet repose, and heart-soothing delight! We turn back upon the world; and the stunning noises of Virgil's Cyclops put all this fair Elysium to flight.]

At a distance, the reapers were carrying away their last harvest load; and numerous groups of gleaners picking up the grain which they had spared, were marching homewards in all the glee of apparent happiness.

Immediately on our left, the cattle were grazing in a rich pasture meadow; while, before us, the white pheasant darted across the walk, and the stock-dove was heard to wail in the grove. We passed a row of orange trees, glittering with golden fruit; and, turning sharply to our right, discovered, on a gentle eminence, and skirted with a profusion of shrubs and delicately shaped trees, the wished-for ALCOVE.

We quickly descried Almansa busied in twining her favourite honey-suckles round the portico; while within Belinda was sitting soberly at work, as if waiting our arrival. The ladies saluted us as we approached; and Lorenzo, who till now had been unperceived, came quietly from the interior, with his favourite edition of _Thomson_[424] in his hand.

[Footnote 424: This must be a favourite edition with every man of taste. It was printed by BENSLEY, and published by DU ROVERAY, in the year 1802. The designs were by Hamilton, and the engravings principally by Fittler. The copy which Lorenzo had in his hand was upon _large paper_; and nothing could exceed the lustre of the type and plates. The editions of _Pope_, _Gray_, and _Milton_, by DU ROVERAY, as well as those of _The Spectator_, _Guardian_, _Tatler_, by Messrs.

SHARPE and HAILES, are among the most elegant, as well as accurate, publications of our old popular writers.]

The Alcove at a distance, had the appearance of a rustic temple.[425]

The form, though a little capricious, was picturesque; and it stood so completely embosomed in rich and variegated foliage, and commanded so fine a swell of landscape, that the visitor must be cold indeed who could approach it with the compass of Palladio in one hand, and the square of Inigo Jones in the other. We entered and looked around us.

[Footnote 425: Lorenzo was not unmindful that it had been observed by Lipsius (_Syntag. de Bibliothecis_) and, after him, by Thomasinus (_de Donar. et Tabell-votiv._ c. 3. p.

37.) that the ancients generally built their libraries near to, or adjoining their _Temples_; "ut veram seram sedem sacratorum ingenii faetuum loca sacra esse ostenderent:"

BIBLIOTHECAS (inquit) procul abesse (sc. a TEMPLIS) noluerunt veteres, ut ex praeclaris ingeniorum monumentis dependens mortalium, gloria, in Deorum tutela esset. This I gather from Spizolius's _Infelix Literatus_: p. 462.]

Those who have relished the mild beauties of Wynants' pictures would be pleased with the view from the Alcove of Lorenzo. The country before was varied, undulating, and the greater part, highly cultivated. Some broad-spreading oaks here and there threw their protecting arms round the humble saplings; and some aspiring elms frequently reared their lofty heads, as land-marks across the county.

The copses skirted the higher grounds, and a fine park-wood covered the middle part of the landscape in one broad umbrageous tone of colouring. It was not the close rusticity of Hobbima--or the expansive, and sometimes complicated, scenery of Berghem--or the heat-oppressive and magnificent views of Both--that we contemplated; but, as has been before observed, the mild and gentle scenery of Wynants; and if a cascade or dimpling brook had been near us, I could have called to my aid the transparent pencil of Rysdael, in order to impress upon the reader a proper notion of the scenery. But it is high time to make mention of the conversation which ensued among the tenants of this Alcove.

LOREN. I am heartily glad we are met under such propitious circumstances. What a glorious day!

ALMAN. Have you recovered, Sir, the immense fatigue you must have sustained from the exertions of yesterday? My brother has no mercy upon a thoroughly-versed book guest!

LYSAND. I am indeed quite hearty: yet, if any thing heavy and indigested hung about me, would not the contemplation of such a landscape, and such a day, restore every thing to its wonted ardour?!

You cannot conceive how such a scene affects me: even to shedding tears of pleasure--from the reflections to which it gives rise.

BELIN. How strangely and how cruelly has the character of a bibliographer been aspersed! Last night you convinced me of the ardour of your enthusiasm, and of the eloquence of your expression, in regard to your favourite subject of discussion!--but, this morning, I find that you can talk in an equally impassioned manner respecting garden and woodland scenery?

LYSAND. Yes, Madam: and if I possessed such a domain as does your brother, I think I could even improve it a little--especially the interior of the Alcove! I don't know that I could attach to the house a more appropriate library than he has done; even if I adopted the octagonal form of the _Hafod Library_;[426] which, considered with reference to its local situation, is, I think, almost unequalled:--but it strikes me that the interior of this Alcove might be somewhat improved.

[Footnote 426: Hafod, in Cardiganshire, South Wales, is the residence of THOMAS JOHNES, Esq., M.P., and Lord Lieutenant of the county. Mr. Malkin, in his _Scenery, Antiquities, and Biography, of South Wales_, 1804, 4to., and Dr. Smith, in his _Tour to Hafod_, 1810, folio, have made us pretty well acquainted with the local scenery of Hafod:--yet can any pen or pencil do this

--Paradise, open'd in the wild,

perfect justice! I have seen Mr. Stothard's numerous little sketches of the pleasure-grounds and surrounding country, which are at once faithful and picturesque. But what were this "Paridise" of rocks, waterfalls, streams, woods, copses, dells, grottos, and mountains, without the hospitable spirit of the owner--which seems to preside in, and to animate, every summer-house and alcove. The book-loving world is well acquainted with the _Chronicles of Froissart_, _Joinville_, _De Brocquiere_, and _Monstrelet_, which have issued from the HAFOD PRESS; and have long deplored the loss, from fire, which their author, Mr.

Johnes, experienced in the demolition of the greater part of his house and library. The former has been rebuilt, and the latter replenished: yet no Phoenix spirit can revivify the ashes of those volumes which contained the romances notified by the renowned Don Quixote! But I am rambling too wildly among the Hafod rocks--I hasten, therefore to return and take the reader with me into the interior of Mr. Johnes's largest library, which is terminated by a Conservatory of upwards of 150 feet. As the ancient little books for children [hight _Lac Puerorum_!] used to express it--"Look, here it is."

[Illustration]]

LOREN. What defects do you discover here, Lysander?

LYSAND. They are rather omissions to be supplied than errors to be corrected. You have warmed the interior by a Grecian-shaped stove, and you do right; but I think a few small busts in yonder recesses would not be out of character. Milton, Shakespeare, and Locke, would produce a sort of inspiration which might accord with that degree of feeling excited by the contemplation of these external objects.

LOREN. You are right. 'Ere you revisit this spot, those inspiring gentlemen shall surround me.

BELIN. And pray add to them the busts of Thomson and Cowper: for these latter, in my opinion, are our best poets in the description of rural life. You remember what Cowper says--

God made the country, and Man made the town?

ALMAN. This may be very well--but we forget the purpose for which we are convened.

LIS. True: so I entreat you, Master Lysander, to open--not the debate--but the discussion.

LYSAND. You wish to know what are the SYMPTOMS OF THE BIBLIOMANIA?--what are the badges or livery marks, in a library, of the owner of the collection being a bibliomaniac?

ALMAN. Even so. My question, yesterday evening, was--if I remember well--whether a _mere collector_ of books was necessarily a bibliomaniac?

LYSAND. Yes: and to which--if I also recollect rightly--I replied that the symptoms of the disease, and the character of a bibliomaniac, were discoverable in the very books themselves!

LIS. How is this?

ALMAN & BELIN. Do pray let us hear.

PHIL. At the outset, I entreat you, Lysander, not to overcharge the colouring of your picture. Respect the character of your auditors; and, above all things, have mercy upon the phlogistic imagination of Lisardo!

LYSAND. I will endeavour to discharge the important office of a bibliomaniacal Mentor, or, perhaps, aesculapius, to the utmost of my power: and at all events, with the best possible intentions.

Before we touch upon the _Symptoms_, it may be as well to say a few words respecting the _General Character_ of the BOOK DISEASE. The ingenious Peignot[427] defines the bibliomania to be "a passion for possessing books; not so much to be instructed by them, as to gratify the eye by looking on them." This subject has amused the pens of foreigners; although we have had nothing in our own language, written expressly upon it, 'till the ingenious and elegantly-composed poem of Dr. Ferriar appeared; after which, as you well know, our friend put forth his whimsical brochure.[428]

[Footnote 427: "LA BIRLIOMANIE [Transcriber's Note: BIBLIOMANIE] est la fureur de posseder des livres, non pas tant pour s'instruire, que pour les avoir et pour en repaitre sa vue. Le bibliomane ne connait ordinairement les livres que par leur titre, leur frontispice, et leur date; il s'attache aux bonnes editiones et les poursuit a quelque titre que ce soit; la relieure le seduit aussi, soit par son anciennete, soit par sa beaute," &c. _Dictionnaire de Bibliologie_. vol. i. p. 51. This is sufficiently severe: see also the extracts from the _Memoires de l'Institut_: p.

25, ante. The more ancient foreign writers have not scrupled to call the BIBLIOMANIA by every caustic and merciless terms: thus speaks the hard-hearted Geyler: "Tertia nola est, multos libros coacervare propter animi voluptatem curiosam. Fastidientis stomachi est multa degustare, ait Seneca. Isti per multos libros vagant legentes assidue: nimirum similles fatuis illis, qui in urbe cicumeunt domos singulas, et earum picturas dissutis malis contuentur: sicque curiositate trahuntur, &c. Contenti in hac animi voluptate, quam pascunt per volumina varia devagando et liguriendo. Itaque gaudent hic de larga librorum copia, operosa utique sed delectabilis sarcina, et animi jucunda distractio: imo est haec ingens librorum copia ingens simul et laboris copia, et quietis inopia--huc illucque circum agendum ingenium: his atque illis pregravanda memoria."--_Navicula sive Saeculum Fatuorum_, 1511, 4to. sign B. iiij rev. Thus speaks Sebastian Brandt upon the subject, through the medium of our old translation:

Styll am I besy bokes assemblynge For to have plenty it is a pleasaunte thynge In my conceyt, and to have them ay in honde; But what they mene do I nat understonde.

_Shyp of Folys_: see p. 206, ante.

There is a short, but smart and interesting, article on this head in Mr. D'Israeli's _Curiosities of Literature_: vol. i.

10. "Bruyere has touched on this mania with humour; of such a collector (one who is fond of superb bindings only), says he, as soon as I enter his house, I am ready to faint on the stair-case from a strong smell of Russia and Morocco leather. In vain he shews me fine editions, gold leaves, Etruscan bindings, &c.--naming them one after another, as if he were shewing a gallery of pictures!" Lucian has composed a biting invective against an ignorant possessor of a vast library. "One who opens his eyes with an hideous stare at an old book; and after turning over the pages, chiefly admires _the date_ of its publication." But all this, it may be said, is only general declamation, and means nothing!]

[Footnote 428: The first work, I believe, written expressly upon the subject above discussed was a French publication, entitled _La Bibliomanie_. Of the earliest edition I am uninformed; but one was published at the Hague in 1762, 8vo.

Dr. Ferriar's poem upon the subject, being an epistle to Richard Heber, Esq.--and which is rightly called by Lysander 'ingenious and elegant'--was published in 1809, 4to.: pp.

14: but not before an equally ingenious, and greatly more interesting, performance, by the same able pen, had appeared in the Trans. of the Manchester Literary Society, vol. iv., p. 45-87--entitled _Comments upon Sterne_; which may be fairly classed among the species of bibliomaniacal composition; inasmuch as it shews the author to be well read in old books; and, of these, in Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy in particular. Look for half a minute at p. 286, ante. In the same year of Dr. Ferriar's publication of the Bibliomania, appeared the _Voyage autour de ma bibliotheque Roman Bibliographique_: by Ant. Caillot; in three small duodecimo volumes. There is little ingenuity and less knowledge in these meagre volumes. My own superficial work, entitled, _Bibliomania_, or _Book-Madness: containing some account of the History, Symptoms and Cure of this fatal Disease; in an epistle addressed to Richard Heber, Esq._, quickly followed Dr. Ferriar's publication. It contained 82 pages, with a tolerably copious sprinkling of notes: but it had many errors and omissions, which it has been my endeavour to correct and supply in the present new edition, or rather newly-constructed work. Vide preface. Early in the ensuing year (namely, in 1810) appeared _Bibliosophia, or Book-Wisdom: containing some account of the Pride, Pleasure, and Privileges of that glorious Vocation, Book-Collecting.

By an Aspirant. Also, The Twelve Labours of an Editor, separately pitted against those of Hercules_, 12mo. This is a good-humoured and tersely written composition: being a sort of Commentary upon my own performance. In the ensuing pages will be found some amusing poetical extracts from it.

And thus take we leave of PUBLICATIONS UPON THE BIBLIOMANIA!]