ford_, pp.
18, 19. _North's Lives_, edit. 1754, 4to.]

His brother, Dr. JOHN NORTH, was a still greater _Helluo Librorum_;
"his soul being never so staked down as in an old bookseller's shop."
Not content with a superficial survey of whatever he inspected, he
seems to have been as intimately acquainted with all the book-selling
fraternity of _Little-Britain_ as was his contemporary, Richard Smith;
and to have entered into a conspiracy with ROBERT SCOTT[360]--the most
renowned book vender in this country, if not in Europe--to deprive
all bibliomaniacs of a chance of procuring rare and curious volumes,
by sweeping every thing that came to market, in the shape of a book,
into their own curiously-wrought and widely-spread nets. Nay, even
Scott himself was sometimes bereft of all power, by means of the
potent talisman which this learned Doctor exercised--for the latter,
"at one lift," would now and then sweep a whole range of shelves in
Scott's shop of every volume which it contained. And yet how
whimsical, and, in my humble opinion, ill-founded, was Dr. North's
taste in matters of typography! Would you believe it, Lisardo, he
preferred the meagre classical volumes, printed by the _Gryphii_, in
the italic letter, to the delicate and eye-soothing lustre of the
_Elzevir_ type--?

[Footnote 360: "Now he began to look after books, and to lay
the foundation of a competent library. He dealt with Mr.
ROBERT SCOTT, of _Little-Britain_, whose sister was his
grandmother's woman; and, upon that acquaintance he
expected, and really had from him, useful information of
books and their editions. This Mr. Scott was, in his time,
the greatest librarian in Europe; for, besides his stock in
England, he had warehouses in Francfort, Paris, and other
places, and dealt by factors. After he was grown old, and
much worn by multiplicity of business, he began to think of
his ease and to leave off. Whereupon he contracted with one
Mills, of St. Paul's Church-yard, near L10,000 deep, and
articled not to open his shop any more. But Mills, with his
auctioneering, Atlasses, and projects, failed, whereby poor
Scott lost above half his means: but he held to his contract
of not opening his shop, and when he was in London (for he
had a country house), passed most of his time at his house
amongst the rest of his books; and his reading (for he was
no mean scho