ssed my obligations for
such civility; and gaining an upper room, by the help of a chair, made a
survey of its contents. What piles of interminable rubbish! I selected, as
the only rational or desirable volume--half rotted with moisture--_Belon's
Marine Fishes_, 1551, 4to; and placing six francs (the price demanded) upon
the table, hurried back, through this sable and dismal territory, with a
sort of precipitancy amounting to horrour. What struck me, as productive of
a very extraordinary effect--was the cheerfulness and _gaiete de coeur_ of
these females, in the midst of this region of darkness and desolation.
Manoury told me that the Revolution had deprived him of the opportunity of
having the finest bookselling stock in France! His own carelessness and
utter apathy are likely to prove yet more destructive enemies.

But let us touch a more "spirit-stirring" chord in the book theme. Let us
leave the _Bouquiniste_ for the PUBLIC LIBRARY: and I invite you most
earnestly to accompany me thither, and to hear matters of especial import.
This library occupies the upper part of a fine large stone building,
devoted to the public offices of government. The plan of the library is
exceedingly striking; in the shape of a cross. It measures one hundred and
thirty-four, by eighty, French feet; and is supposed, apparently with
justice, to contain 20,000 volumes. It is proportionably wide and lofty. M.
HEBERT is the present chief librarian, having succeeded the late M.
Moysant, his uncle. Among the more eminent benefactors and Bibliomaniacs,
attached to this library, the name of FRANCOIS MARTIN is singularly
conspicuous. He was, from all accounts, and especially from the information
of M. Hebert, one of the most raving of book-madmen: but he displayed,
withal, a spirit of kindness and liberality towards his favourite
establishment at Caen, which could not be easily shaken or subdued. He was
also a man of letters, and evinced that most commendable of all literary
propensities--a love of the LITERATURE OF HIS COUNTRY. He amassed a very
large collection of books, which was cruelly pillaged during the
Revolution; but the public library became possessed of a great number of
them. In those volumes, formerly belonging to him, which are now seen, is
the following printed inscription: "_Franciscus Martin, Doctor Theologus
Parisiensis, comparavit. Oretur pro co_." He was head of the convent of
Cordeliers, and Prefect of the Province: but his mode