ng; which is
literally from Nichols's _Anecdotes of Bowyer_. "James West,
of Alscott, in the county of Warwick, Esq., M.A., of Baliol
College, Oxford, (son of Richard West, said to be descended,
according to family tradition, from Leonard, a younger son
of Thomas West, Lord Delawar, who died in 1525) was
representative in parliament for St. Alban's, in 1741; and
being appointed one of the joint Secretaries of the
Treasury, held that office till 1762. In 1765 or 1766, his
old patron the Duke of Newcastle, obtained for him a pension
of 2000_l._ a year. He was an early member, and one of the
Vice Presidents, of the Antiquary Society; and was first
Treasurer, and afterwards President, of the Royal Society.
He married the daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Stephens,
timber merchant, in Southwark, with whom he had a large
fortune in houses in Rotherhithe; and by whom he had a son,
James West, Esq., now (1782) of Alscott, one of the Auditors
of the Land-Tax, and sometime Member of Parliament for
Boroughbridge, in Yorkshire (who in 1774 married the
daughter of Christopher Wren, of Wroxhall in Warwickshire,
Esq.), and had two daughters. Mr. West died in July, 1772.
His large and valuable collection of MANUSCRIPTS was sold to
the _Earl of Shelburne_, and is now deposited in the British
Museum."]

LOREN. All hail to thee--transcendant bibliomaniac of other times!--of
times, in which my father lived, and procured, at the sale of thy
precious book-treasures, not a few of those rare volumes which have so
much gladdened the eyes of Lisardo.

BELIN. I presume you mean, dear brother, some of those _black-looking_
gentlemen, bound in fancifully marked coats of morocco, and _washed_
and _ironed_ within (for you collectors must have recourse to a
woman's occupation) with so much care and nicety that even the eyes
of our ancient Rebecca, with "spectacle on nose" to boot, could hardly
detect the cunning' conceit of your binder!

LOREN. Spare my feelings and your own reputation, if you wish to
appreciate justly the noble craft of book-repairing, &c.--But proceed,
dear Lysander.

LYSAND. You cannot have a greater affection towards the memory of the
collector of the _Bibliotheca Westiana_ than myself. Hark--! or is it
only a soft murmur from a congregation of autumnal zephyrs!--but
methought I heard a sound, as if calling up