ollowed
by another interesting old romance, William and the Wer Wolf, valuable
not only as a specimen of early literature, but for the light it throws
on the strange wild superstition dealing with the conversion of men
into wolves, which has been found so widely prevalent that it has
received a sort of scientific title in the word Lycanthropy. These two
books made the reputation of the Roxburghe, and proved an example and
encouragement to the clubs which began to arise more or less on its
model. It was a healthy protest against the Dibdinism which had ruled
the destinies of the club, for Dibdin had been its master, and was the
Gamaliel at whose feet Hazlewood and others patiently sat. Of the term
now used, the best explanation I can give is this, that in the selection
of books--other questions, such as rarity or condition, being set aside
or equally balanced--a general preference is to be given to those which
are the most witless, preposterous, and in every literary sense
valueless--which are, in short, rubbish. What is here meant will be
easily felt by any one who chooses to consult the book which Dibdin
issued under the title of "The Library Companion, or the Young Man's
Guide and the Old Man's Comfort in the choice of a Library." This, it
will be observed, is not intended as a manual of rare or curious, or in
any way peculiar books, but as the instruction of a Nestor on the best
books for study and use in all departments of literature. Yet one will
look in vain there for such names as Montaigne, Shaftesbury, Benjamin
Franklin, D'Alembert, Turgot, Adam Smith, Malebranche, Lessing, Goethe,
Schiller, Fenelon, Burke, Kant, Richter, Spinoza, Flechier, and many
others. Characteristically enough, if you turn up Rousseau in the index,
you will find Jean Baptiste, but not Jean Jacques. You will search in
vain for Dr Thomas Reid, the metaphysician, but will readily find Isaac
Reed, the editor. If you look for Molinaeus or Du Moulin, it is not
there, but alphabetic vicinity gives you the good fortune to become
acquainted with "Moule, Mr, his Bibliotheca Heraldica." The name Hooker
will be found, not to guide the reader to the Ecclesiastical Polity, but
to Dr Jackson Hooker's Tour in Iceland. Lastly, if any one shall search
for Hartley on Man, he will find in the place it might occupy, or has
reference to, the editorial services of "Hazlewood, Mr Joseph."

Though the Roxburghe, when it came under the fostering care of the
schola