Chapter XXVII: Part V: =The Drawing Room.= (10)

The tears shed by virtuous bibliomaniacs at Harley's death were speedily wiped away, when the recollection of thine, and of thy contemporary's, FOLKES'S[382] fame, was excited in their bosoms. Illustrious Bibliomaniacs! your names and memories will always live in the hearts of noble-minded Literati: the treasures of your Museums and Libraries--your liberal patronage and ever-active exertions in the cause of VIRTU--whether connected with coins, pictures, or books--can never be banished, at least, from my grateful mind:--And if, at this solemn hour, when yonder groves and serpentine walks are sleeping in the quiet of moon-light, your spirits could be seen placidly to flit along, I would burst from this society--dear and congenial as it is--to take your last instructions, or receive your last warnings, respecting the rearing of a future age of bibliomaniacs! Ye were, in good earnest, noble-hearted book-heroes!--but I wander:--forgive me!

[Footnote 382: "_A Catalogue of the entire and valuable
library of_ MARTIN FOLKES, Esq., President of the Royal
Society, and Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at
Paris, lately deceased; which will be sold by auction, by
Samuel Baker, at his house in York Street, Covent-Garden. To
begin on Monday, February 2, 1756, and to continue for forty
days successively (Sundays excepted). Catalogues to be had
at most of the considerable places in Europe, and all the
booksellers of Great Britain and Ireland. Price sixpence."
This collection was an exceedingly fine one; enriched with
many books of the choicest description, which Mr. Folkes had
acquired in his travels in Italy and Germany. The works on
natural history, coins, medals, inscriptions, and on the
fine arts in general, formed the most valuable
department--those on the Greek, Latin, and English classics
were comparatively of inferior importance. It is a great
pity the catalogue was not better digested; or the books
classed according to the nature of their contents. The
following prices, for some of the more rare and interesting
articles, will amuse a bibliographer of the present day. The
chronicles of Fabian, Hall, and Grafton, did not,
altogether, bring quite 2_l._, though the copies are
described as perfect and fair. There seems to have been a
fine set of Sir Wm. Dugdale's Works (Nos. 3074-81) in 13
vols., which, collectively, produced about 30 guineas! At
the present day, they are worth about 250_l._--In _Spanish
literature_, the history of South America, by John Duan and
Ant. di Ulloa, Madr., fol., in 5 vols., was sold for 5_l._:
a fine large paper copy of the description of the monastery
of St. Lorenzo, and the Escorial, Madr., 1657, brought 1_l._
2_s._; de Lastanosa's Spanish medals, Huesca, fol., 1645,
2_l._ 2_s._--In _English_, the first edition of Shakspeare,
1623, which is now what a French bibliographer would say,
"presque introuvable," produced the sum of 3_l._ 3_s._; and
Fuller's Worthies, 18_s._!----_Fine Arts, Antiquities, and
Voyages._ Sandrart's works, in 9 folio volumes (of which a
fine perfect copy is now rarely to be met with, and of very
great value) were sold for 13_l._ 13_s._ only: Desgodetz
Roman edifices, Paris, 1682, 4_l._ 10_s._ Galleria
Giustiniano, 2 vols., fol., 13_l._ 13_s._ Le Brun's Voyages
in Muscovy, &c., in large paper, 4_l._ 4_s._ De Rossi's
Raccolta de Statue, &c., Rom., 1704, 6_l._ 10_s._ Medailles
du Regne de Louis le Grand: de l'Imp. Roy. 1. p. fol., 1702,
5_l._ 15_s._ 6_d._----The works on _Natural History_ brought
still higher prices: but the whole, from the present
depreciation of money, and increased rarity of the articles,
would now bring thrice the sums then given.--Of the _Greek
and Latin Classics_, the Pliny of 1469 and 1472 were sold to
Dr. Askew, for 11_l._ 11_s._ and 7_l._ 17_s._ 6_d._ At the
Doctor's sale they brought 43_l._ and 23_l._, although the
first was lately sold (A.D. 1805) among some duplicates of
books belonging to the British Museum, at a much lower
price: the copy was, in fact, neither large nor beautiful.
Those in Lord Spencer's, and the Hunter and Cracherode
collections, are greatly superior, and would each bring more
than double the price. From a priced copy of the sale
catalogue, upon _large paper_, and uncut, in my possession,
I find that the amount of the sale, consisting of 5126
articles, was 3091_l._ 6_s._ The _Prints, and Drawings_ of
Mr. Folkes occupied a sale of 8 days: and his _pictures_,
_gems_, _coins_, and _mathematical instruments_, of five
days. Mr. MARTIN FOLKES may justly be ranked among the most
useful, as well as splendid, literary characters, of which
this country can boast. He appears to have imbibed, at a
very early age, an extreme passion for science and
literature; and to have distinguished himself so much at the
University of Cambridge, under the able tuition of Dr.
Laughton, that, in his 23rd year, he was admitted a Fellow
of the Royal Society. About two years afterwards he was
chosen one of the council; and rose in succession to the
chair of the presidentship, which, as Lysander above truly
says, he filled with a credit and celebrity that has since
never been surpassed. On this occasion he was told by Dr.
Jurin, the Secretary, who dedicated to him the 34th vol. of
the Transactions, that "the greatest man that ever lived
(Sir Isaac Newton) singled him out to fill the chair, and to
preside in the society, when he himself was so frequently
prevented by indisposition; and that it was sufficient to
say of him that he was _Sir Isaac's friend_." Within a few
years afterwards, he was elected President of the Society of
Antiquaries. Two situations, the filling of which may be
considered as the _ne plus ultra_ of literary distinction.
Mr. Folkes travelled abroad, with his family, about two
years and a half, visiting the cities of Rome, Florence, and
Venice--where he was noticed by almost every person of rank
and reputation, and whence he brought away many a valuable
article to enrich his own collection. He was born in the
year 1690, and died of a second stroke of the palsy, under
which he languished for three years, in 1754. He seems to
have left behind him a considerable fortune. Among his
numerous bequests was one to the Royal Society of 200_l._,
along with a fine portrait of Lord Bacon, and a large
cornelian ring, with the arms of the society engraved upon
it, for the perpetual use of the president and his
successors in office. The MSS. of his own composition, not
being quite perfect, were, to the great loss of the learned
world, ordered by him to be destroyed. The following
wood-cut portrait is taken from a copper-plate in the
_Portraits des Hommes Illustres de Denmark_, 4to., 7 parts,
1746: part 4th, a volume which abounds with a number of
copper-plate engravings, _worked off_ in a style of uncommon
clearness and brilliancy. Some of the portraits themselves
are rather stiff and unexpressive; but the vignettes are
uniformly tasteful and agreeable. The seven parts are rarely
found in an equal state of perfection.

Dr. Birch has drawn a very just and interesting character of
this eminent man, which may be found in Nichols's _Anecdotes
of Bowyer_, pp. 562-7. Mr. Edwards, the late ornithologist,
has described him in a simple, but appropriate, manner. "He
seemed," says he, "to have attained to universal knowledge;
for, in the many opportunities I have had of being in his
company, almost every part of science has happened to be the
subject of discourse, all of which he handled as an adept.
He was a man of great politeness in his manners, free from
all pedantry and pride, and, in every respect, the real,
unaffected, fine gentleman."]

ALMAN. Pray keep to this earth, and condescend to notice us mortals of flesh and blood, who have heard of Dr. Mead, and Martin Folkes, only as eminently learned and tasteful characters.

LYSAND. I crave your forgiveness. But Dr. Mead's cabinet of coins, statues, and books, was so liberally thrown open for the public inspection that it was hardly possible for modest merit, if properly made known to him, to depart unrewarded or ungratified. Nor does the renowned President of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies--Martin Folkes--merit a less warm eulogy; for he filled these distinguished situations with a credit which has never since been surpassed.

But there is yet an illustrious tribe to be recorded. We have, first, RICHARD RAWLINSON,[383] brother of the renowned _Tom Folio_, whose choice and tasteful collection of books, as recorded in auctioneering annals, is deserving of high commendation. But his name and virtues are better known in the University, to which he was a benefactor, than to the noisy circles of the metropolis. The sale of ORATOR HENLEY'S books "followed hard upon" that of Richard Rawlinson's; and if the spirit of their owner could, from his "gilt tub," have witnessed the grimaces and jokes which marked the sale--with the distorted countenances and boisterous laughter which were to be seen on every side--how it must have writhed under the smart of general ridicule, or have groaned under the torture of contemptuous indignation! Peace to Henley's[384] vexed _manes_!--and similar contempt await the efforts of all literary quacks and philosophical knaves!

[Footnote 383: "BIBLIOTHECA RAWLINSONIANA, _sive Catalogus
Librorum Richardi Rawlinson_, LL.D. Qui prostabunt Venales
sub hasta, Apud Samuelem Baker, In Vico dicto York-street,
Covent Garden, Londoni, Die Lunæ 29 Marti MDCCLVI." With the
following whimsical Greek motto in the title-page:

[Greek: Kai gar o taôs dia to spanion thaumazetai].

EUBULUS.

("The peacock is admired on account of its rarity.")

This valuable library must have contained nearly 25,000
volumes, multiplying the number of articles (9405) by 3--the
usual mode of calculation. Unfortunately, as was the case
with Dr. Mead's and Mr. Folkes's, the books were not
arranged according to any particular classification. Old
black-letter English were mixed with modern Italian, French,
and Latin; and novels and romances interspersed with
theology and mathematics. An _alphabetical_ arrangement, be
the books of whatever kind they may, will in general obviate
the inconvenience felt from such an undigested plan; and it
were "devoutly to be wished," by all true bibliographers,
that an act of parliament should pass for the due observance
of this alphabetical order. We all know our A, B, C, but
have not all analytical heads; or we may differ in our ideas
of analysis. The scientific and alphabetical _united_ is
certainly better; like Mr. Harris's excellent catalogue,
noticed at p. 99, ante. The "_Méthode pour dresser une
bibliothéque_," about which De Bure, Formey, and Peignot
have so solemnly argued, is not worth a moment's discussion.
Every man likes to be his own librarian, as well as "his own
broker." But to return to Dr. Rawlinson's collection. On
examining a priced catalogue of it, which now lies before
me, I have not found any higher sum offered for a work than
4_l._ 1_s._ for a collection of fine prints, by Aldegrever.
(No. 9405.) The Greek and Latin Classics, of which there
were few _Editiones Principes_, or on _large paper_, brought
the usual sums given at that period. The old English
black-letter books, which were pretty thickly scattered
throughout the collection, were sold for exceedingly low
prices--if the copies were perfect. Witness the following:

£ _s._ _d._
The Newe Testament in English, 1500 0 2 9
The Ymage of both Churches, after the Revelation
of St. John, by Bale, 1550 0 1 6
The boke called the Pype or Tonne of Perfection,
by Richard Whytforde, 1553 0 1 9
The Visions of Pierce Plowman, 1561 0 2 0
The Creede of Pierce Plowman, 1532 0 1 6
The Bookes of Moses, in English, 1530 0 3 9
Bale's Actes of English Votaryes, 1550 0 1 3
The Boke of Chivalrie, by Caxton 0 11 0
The Boke of St. Alban's, by W. de Worde 1 1 0

These are only very few of the rare articles in English
literature; of the whole of which (perhaps upwards of 200 in
number) I believe the boke of St. Albans brought the highest
sum. Hence it will be seen that this was not the age of
curious research into the productions of our ancestors.
Shakspeare had not then appeared in a proper _variorum
edition_. Theobald, Pope, and Warburton, had not
investigated the =black-letter= lore of ancient English
writers for the illustration of their favourite author. This
was reserved for Capell, Farmer, Steevens, Malone, Chalmers,
Reed, and Douce: and it is expressly to these latter
gentlemen (for Johnson and Hanmer were very sparing, or very
shy, of the black-letter), that we are indebted for the
present spirit of research into the works of our ancestors.
The sale of the _books_ lasted 50 days. There was a second
sale of _pamphlets, books of prints, &c._, in the following
year, which lasted 10 days: and this was immediately
succeeded by a sale of the doctor's _single prints and
drawings_, which continued 8 days. Dr. Rawlinson's
benefactions to Oxford, besides his Anglo-Saxon endowment at
St. John's College, were very considerable; including,
amongst other curiosities, _a series of medals of the
Popes_, which the Doctor supposed to be one of the most
complete collections in Europe; and a great number of
valuable MSS., which he directed to be safely locked up, and
not to be opened till seven years after his decease. He died
on the 6th of April, 1755. To St. John's College, where he
had been a gentleman commoner, Dr. Rawlinson left the bulk
of his estate, amounting to near 700_l._ a year: _a plate of
Abp. Laud_, 31 volumes of _Parliamentary Journals and
Debates_, a set of _Rymer's Foedera_, his _Greek_,
_Roman_, and _English coins_, not given to the Bodleian
Library; all his plates engraved at the expense of the
Society of Antiquaries; his diploma, and his _heart_; which
latter is placed in a beautiful urn against the chapel wall,
with this inscription:

Urbi thesaurus, ibi cor.
RIC. RAWLINSON, LL.D. & ANT. S.S.
Olim hujus collegii superioris ordinis
commensalis.
Obiit. vi. Apr. MDCCLV.

Hearne speaks of him, in the preface of his _Tit. Liv. For.
Jul. vita Hen. V._, p. xvi., as "vir antiquis moribus
ornatus, perque eam viam euns, quæ ad immortalem gloriam
ducit."]

[Footnote 384: This gentleman's library, not so remarkable
for the black-letter as for whimsical publications, was sold
by auction, by Samuel Paterson (the earliest sale in which I
find this well known book-auctioneer engaged), in June,
1759, and the three ensuing evenings. The title of the Sale
Catalogue is as follows:----"_A Catalogue of the original
MSS. and manuscript collections of the late_ Reverend Mr.
JOHN HENLEY, A.M., Independent Minister of the Oratory, &c.,
in which are included sundry collections of the late Mons.
des Maizeaux, the learned editor of Bayle, &c., Mr. Lowndes,
author of the Report for the Amendment of Silver coins, &c.,
Dr. Patrick Blair, Physician at Boston, and F.R.S., &c.
Together with original letters and papers of State,
addressed to Henry d'Avenant, Esq., her Britannic Majesty's
Envoy at Francfort, from 1703 to 1708 inclusive." Few
libraries have contained more curious and remarkable
publications than did this. The following articles, given as
notable specimens, remind us somewhat of Addison's memoranda
for the Spectator, which the waiter at the coffee-house
picked up and read aloud for the amusement of the
company.----No. 166. God's Manifestation by a Star to the
Dutch. A mortifying Fast-Diet at Court. On the Birth Day of
the first and oldest young Gentleman. All corrupt: none
good; no, not one.----168. General Thumbissimo. The Spring
reversed, or the Flanderkin's Opera and Dutch Pickle
Herrings. The Creolean Fillip, or Royal Mishap. A Martial
Telescope, &c. England's Passion Sunday, and April
Changelings.----170. Speech upon Speech. A Telescope for
Tournay. No Battle, but worse, and the True Meaning of it.
An Army beaten and interred.----174. Signs when the P. will
come. Was Captain Sw-n, a Prisoner on Parole, to be
catechised? David's Opinion of like Times. The Seeds of the
plot may rise though the leaves fall. A Perspective, from
the Blair of Athol. The Pretender's Popery. Murder! Fire!
Where! Where!----178. Taking Carlise, catching an eel by the
tail. Address of a Bishop, Dean, and Clergy. Swearing to the
P----r, &c. Anathema denounced against those parents,
Masters, and Magistrates, that do not punish the Sin at
Stokesley. A Speech, &c. A Parallel between the Rebels to K.
Charles I. and those to his successor. _Jane Cameron_ looked
killing at _Falkirk_.----179. Let Stocks be knighted, write,
Sir Bank, &c., the Ramhead Month. A Proof that the Writers
against Popery, fear it will be established in this Kingdom.
A Scheme wisely blabbed to root and branch the Highlanders.
Let St. Patrick have fair Play, &c.----Of ORATOR HENLEY I
have not been able to collect any biographical details, more
interesting than those which are to be found in Warburton's
notes to Pope's Dunciad: He was born at Melton Mowbray, in
Leicestershire, in 1692, and was brought up at St. John's
College, in the University of Cambridge. After entering into
orders, he became a preacher in London, and established a
lecture on Sunday evenings, near Lincoln's-Inn Fields, and
another on Wednesday evenings, chiefly on political and
scientific subjects. Each auditor paid one shilling for
admission. "He declaimed," says Warburton, "against the
greatest persons, and occasionally did our poet (Pope) that
honour. When he was at Cambridge, he began to be uneasy; for
it shocked him to find he was commanded to believe against
his own judgment in points of religion, philosophy, &c.: for
his genius leading him freely to _dispute all propositions_,
and _call all points to account_, he was impatient under
those fetters of the free-born mind." When he was admitted
into priest's orders, he thought the examination so short
and superficial that he considered it "_not necessary to
conform to the Christian religion_, in order either to be a
deacon or priest." With these quixotic sentiments he came to
town; and "after having, for some years, been a writer for
the booksellers, he had an ambition to be so for ministers
of state." The only reason he did not rise in the church, we
are told, "was the envy of others, and a disrelish
entertained of him, because _he was not qualified to be a
complete spaniel_." However, he offered the service of his
pen to two great men, of opinions and interests directly
opposite: but being rejected by both of them, he set up a
new project, and styled himself, "_The restorer of ancient
eloquence._" Henley's pulpit, in which he preached, "was
covered with velvet, and adorned with gold." It is to this
that Pope alludes, in the first couplet of his second book
of the Dunciad:

High on a gorgeous seat, that far outshone
HENLEY'S _gilt tub_----

"He had also an altar, and placed over it this extraordinary
inscription, '_The primitive Eucharist._'" We are told by
his friend Welsted (narrative in Oratory Transact. No. 1)
that "he had the assurance to form a plan, which no mortal
_ever thought of_; he had success against all opposition;
challenged his adversaries to fair disputations, and _none
would dispute with him_: he wrote, read, and studied, twelve
hours a day; composed three dissertations a week on all
subjects; undertook to teach in _one year_ what schools and
universities teach in _five_: was not terrified by menaces,
insults, or satires; but still proceeded, matured his bold
scheme, and put the church and _all that in danger_!" See
note to Dunciad, book iii., v. 199. Pope has described this
extraordinary character with singular felicity of
expression:

But, where each science lifts its modern type,
Hist'ry her Pot, Divinity her Pipe,
While proud philosophy repines to shew,
Dishonest sight! his breeches rent below;
Imbrown'd with native bronze, lo! Henley stands,
Tuning his voice and balancing his hands.
How fluent nonsense trickles from his tongue!
How sweet the periods, neither said nor sung!
Still break the benches, Henley! with thy strain,
While SHERLOCK, HARE, and GIBSON, preach in vain.
Oh great restorer of the good old stage,
Preacher at once, and zany of thy age,
Oh worthy thou, of Egypt's wise abodes,
A decent priest, where monkeys were the gods!
But fate with butchers plac'd thy priestly stall,
Meek modern faith to murder, hack, and mawl;
And bade thee live, to crown Britannia's praise,
In TOLAND'S, TINDAL'S, and in WOOLSTON'S days.

_Dunciad_, b. iii., v. 190, &c.

Bromley, in his catalogue of engraved Portraits, mentions
_four_ of orator Henley: two of which are inscribed, one by
Worlidge "The Orator of Newport Market;" another (without
engraver's name) "A Rationalist." There is a floating story
which I have heard of Henley. He gave out that he would shew
a new and expeditious method of converting a pair of boots
into shoes. A great concourse of people attended, expecting
to see something very marvellous; when Henley mounted his
"tub," and, holding up a boot, he took a knife, and _cut
away the leg part of the leather_!]

There are, I had almost said, innumerable contemporaneous bibliomaniacal characters to be described--or rather, lesser stars or satellites that move, in their now unperceived orbits, around the great planets of the book world--but, at this protracted hour of discussion, I will not pretend even to mention their names.

LIS. Yet, go on--unless the female part of the audience be weary--go on describing, by means of your great telescopic powers, every little white star that is sprinkled in this bibliomaniacal _Via Lactea_![385]

[Footnote 385: With great submission to the "reminescential"
talents of Lysander, he might have devoted one _minute_ to
the commendation of the very curious library of JOHN HUTTON,
which was disposed of, by auction, in the same year (1764)
in which Genl. Dormer's was sold. Hutton's library consisted
almost entirely of _English Literature_: the rarest books in
which are printed in the italic type. When the reader is
informed that "_Robinsons Life, Actes, and Death of Prince
Arthur_," and his "_ancient order, societie, and unitie,
laudable of the same_," 1583, 4to. (see no. 2730;
concerning which my worthy friend, Mr. Haslewood, has
discoursed so accurately and copiously: _British
Bibliographer_, vol. i., pp. 109; 125), when he is informed
that this produced only 9_s._ 6_d._--that
"_Hypnerotomachia_," 1592, 4to. (no. 2755), was sold for
only 2_s._--the _Myrrour of Knighthood_, 1585, 4to. (no.
2759), only 5_s._--_Palmerin of England_, 3 pts. in 3 vols.
1602, 1639, 4to. (no. 2767), 14_s._--_Painter's Palace of
Pleasure_, 2 vols. in 1, 1566-7, 4to. (no. 2770)--when, I
say, the tender-hearted bibliomaniac thinks that all these
rare and precious black letter gems were sold, collectively,
for only 2_l._ 16_s._ 6_d._!--what must be his reproaches
upon the lack of spirit which was evinced at this sale!
Especially must his heart melt within him, upon looking at
the produce of some of these articles at the sale of George
Steevens' books, only 36 years afterwards! No depreciation
of money can account for this woful difference. I possess a
wretchedly priced copy of the _Bibl. Huttoniana_, which I
purchased, without title-page or a decent cover, at the sale
of Mr. Gough's books, for 11_s._ Lysander ought also to have
noticed in its chronological order, the extensive and truly
valuable library of ROBERT HOBLYN; the catalogue of which
was published in the year 1769, 8vo., in two parts: pp. 650.
I know not who was the author of the arrangement of this
collection; but I am pretty confident that the judicious
observer will find it greatly superior to every thing of its
kind, with hardly even the exception of the _Bibliotheca
Croftsiana_. It is accurately and handsomely executed, and
wants only an index to make it truly valuable. The
collection, moreover, is a very sensible one. My copy is
upon _large paper_; which is rather common.]

ALMAN. Upon my word, Lisardo, there is no subject however barren, but what may be made fruitful by your metaphorical powers of imagination.

LIS. Madam, I entreat you not to be excursive. Lysander has taken a fresh sip of his nectar, and has given a hem or two--preparing to resume his narrative.

LYSAND. We have just passed over the bar that separates the one half of the 18th century from the other: and among the ensuing eminent collectors, whose brave fronts strike us with respect, is GENERAL DORMER:[386] a soldier who, I warrant you, had faced full many a cannon, and stormed many a rampart, with courage and success. But he could not resist the raging influence of the Book-Mania: nor could all his embrasures and entrenchments screen him from the attacks of this insanity. His collection was both select and valuable.

[Footnote 386: "_A Catalogue of the genuine and elegant
Library of the late_ Sir C.C. DORMER, collected by
Lieutenant General James Dormer; which will be sold, &c., by
Samuel Baker, at his house in York-Street, Covent Garden; to
begin on Monday, February the 20th, 1764, and to continue
the nineteen following evenings." At the end of the
catalogue we are told that the books were "in general of the
best editions, and in the finest condition, many of them in
_large paper_, bound in morocco, gilt leaves," &c. This was
a very choice collection of books; consisting almost
entirely of French, Greek, Latin, Italian, and Spanish. The
number of articles did not exceed 3082; and of volumes,
probably not 7000. The catalogue is neatly printed, and
copies of it on _large paper_ are exceedingly scarce. Among
the most curious and valuable articles are the
following:----no. 599. Les Glorieuses Conquestes de Louis
le Grand, par Pontault, _en maroquin_. Paris, 1678. ("_N.B.
In this copy many very fine and rare portraits are added,
engraved by the most eminent masters._")----no. 604.
Recueil des Maisons Royales, fort bien gravés par Sylvestre,
&c. (N.B. In the book was the following note. "_Ce recueil
des Maisons Royales n'est pas seulement complet, en toutes
manières, mais on y a ajouté plusieurs plans, que l'on ne
trouvent que très rarement._")----no. 731. Fabian's
Chronicle, 1559.----752, Hall's ditto. 1548.----751.
Higden's Polychronicon. 1527. (I suspect that Dr. Askew
purchased the large paper Hutchinson's Xenophon, and
Hudson's Thucydides. nos. 2246, 2585.)----no. 2249.
Don Quixote, por Cervantes. Madr., 4to., 1605. In hoc libro
hæc nota est. "_Cecy est l'edition originale; il y a une
autre du mesme année, imprimée en quarto à Madrid, mais
imprimée apres cecy. J'ay veu l'autre, et je les ay comparez
avec deux autres editions du mesme année, 1605; une imprimée
à Lisbonne, en 4to., l'autre en Valentia, en_
8vo."----no. 2590. Thuanus by Buckley, on _large paper_,
in 14 volumes, folio; a magnificent copy, illustrated with
many beautiful and rare portraits of eminent characters,
mentioned by De Thou. (N.B. This very copy was recently sold
for 74_l._)----From no. 2680 to the end of the Catalogue
(401 articles) there appears a choice collection of Italian
and Spanish books.]

We have before noticed the celebrated diplomatic character, CONSUL SMITH, and have spoken with due respect of his library: let us here, therefore, pass by him,[387] in order to take a full and complete view of a _Non-Pareil_ Collector: the first who, after the days of Richard Smith, succeeded in reviving the love of black-letter lore and of Caxtonian typography--need I say JAMES WEST?[388]

[Footnote 387: The reader has had a sufficiently particular
account of the book-collections of CONSUL SMITH, at p. 95,
ante, to render any farther discussion superfluous. As these
libraries were collected _abroad_, the catalogues of them
were arranged in the place here referred to.]

[Footnote 388: I am now to notice, in less romantic manner
than Lysander, a collection of books, in _English
Literature_, which, for rarity and value, in a proportionate
number, have never been equalled; I mean the library of
JAMES WEST, Esq., _President of the Royal Society_. The sale
commenced on March 29, 1773, and continued for the
twenty-three following days. The catalogue was digested by
Samuel Paterson, a man whose ability in such undertakings
has been generally allowed. The title was as follows:
"BIBLIOTHECA WESTIANA; _A Catalogue of the curious and truly
valuable library of the late_ JAMES WEST, Esq., _President
of the Royal Society, deceased_; comprehending a choice
collection of books in various languages, and upon most
branches of polite literature: more especially such as
relate to the history and antiquities of Great Britain and
Ireland; their early navigators, discoverers, and improvers,
and the _ancient English literature_: of which there are a
great number of uncommon books and tracts, elucidated by MS.
notes and original letters, and embellished with scarce
portraits and devices, rarely to be found: including the
works of Caxton, Lettou, Machlinia, the anonymous St. Albans
school-master, Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson, and the rest of the
old English typographers. Digested by Samuel Paterson, and
sold by Messrs. Langfords." The title-page is succeeded by
the