ed
those monastic treasures which De Bury found hid in _locis tenebrosis_,
antique Bibles, rare Fathers, rich Classics or gems of monkish lore,
enough to fire the brain of the most lymphatic bibliophile, were within
the grasp of the industrious and eager Richard de Bury--that old "Amator
Librorum," like his imitators of the present day, cared not whither he
went to collect his books--dust and dirt were no barriers to him; at
every nook and corner where a stationer's stall[201] appeared, he would
doubtless tarry in defiance of the cold winds or scorching sun, exploring
the ancient tomes reposing there. Nor did he neglect the houses of the
country rectors; and even the humble habitations of the rustics were
diligently ransacked to increase his collections, and from these sources
he gleaned many rude but pleasing volumes, perhaps full of old popular
poetry! or the wild Romances of Chivalry which enlivened the halls and
cots of our forefathers in Gothic days.

We must not overlook the fact that this Treatise on the Love of Books was
written as an accompaniment to a noble and generous gift. Many of the
parchment volumes which De Bury had collected in his "_perilous
embassies_," he gave, with the spirit of a true lover of learning, to the
Durham College at Oxford, for the use of the Students of his Church. I
cannot but regret that the names of these books, _of which he had made a
catalogue_,[202] have not been preserved; perhaps the document may yet be
discovered among the vast collections of manuscripts in the Oxonian
libraries; but the book, being written for this purpose, the author
thought it consistent that full directions should be given for the
preservation and regulation of the library, and we find the last chapter
devoted to this matter; but we must not close the Philobiblon without
noticing his admonitions to the students, some of whom he upbraids for
the carelessness and disrespect which they manifest in perusing books.
"Let there," says he, with all the veneration of a passionate booklover,
"be a modest decorum in opening and closing of volumes, that they may
neither be unclasped with precipitous haste, nor thrown aside after
inspection without being duly closed."[203] Loving and venerating a book
as De Bury did, it was agony to see a volume suffering under the
indignities of the ignorant or thoughtless student whom he thus keenly
satirizes: "You will perhaps see a stiffnecked youth lounging sluggishly
in his stud