uestion--impelled by his habitual vivacity and love of possessing
books--is conceivable enough: but, that he should _publish_ such an
anecdote--that he should delight in telling us of the rudeness which
he committed in SITTING while the gentlemen about him were STANDING,
is to affect a very uncommon singularity"!!! [Greek: O popoi!]

[223] There are yet libraries, and rare books, in the district. I obtained
for my friend the Rev. H. Drury, one of the finest copies in England
of the first edition of _Cicero's Offices_, of 1465, 4to. UPON
VELLUM--from the collection of a physician living in one of the
smaller towns near the Vosges. This copy was in its ancient oaken
attire, and had been formerly in a monastic library. For this
acquisition my friend was indebted to the kind offices of the
younger M. Schweighaeuser.

_LETTER XIV._

SOCIETY. ENVIRONS OF STRASBOURG. DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE, MANNERS AND
CUSTOMS. LITERATURE. LANGUAGE.

My last letter, however copious, was almost wholly confined to _views of
interiors_; that is to say, to an account of the Cathedral and of the
Public Library. I shall now continue the narrative with views of interiors
of a different description; with some slight notices of the _society_ and
of the city of Strasbourg; concluding the whole, as well as closing my
Strasbourg despatches, with a summary account of manners, customs, and
literature.

The great _Greek luminary_, not only of this place, but perhaps of
Germany--the ELDER SCHWEIGHAEUSER--happens to be absent. His son tells me
that he is at _Baden_ for the benefit of the waters, and advises me to take
that "enchanting spot" (as he calls it) in my way to Stuttgart. "'Twill be
only a trifling detour." What however will be the _chief_ temptation--as I
frankly told the younger Schweighaeuser--would be the society of his Father;
to whom the son has promised a strong letter of introduction. I told you in
my last that I had seen LICHTENBERGER at Treuttel and Wuertz's. I have since
called upon the old gentleman; and we immediately commenced a
bibliographical parley. But it was chiefly respecting Lord Spencer's copies
of the _Letters of Indulgence of Pope Nicolas V._ of the date of 1455, that
he made the keenest enquiries. "Was the date legitimate?" I assured him
there could be no doubt of it; and that what Haeberlin had said, followed by
Lambinet, had no reference whatever to his Lordship's copies