and splendid, productions. But we are all

'Tickled with the whistling of a name!'

LOREN. Ay, and naturally enough too. If I look at my Stubbes's
_Anatomy of Abuses_, which has received _your abuse_ this evening, and
fancy that the leaves have been turned over by the scientific hand of
Pearson, Farmer, or Steevens, I experience, by association of ideas, a
degree of happiness which I never could have enjoyed had I obtained
the volume from an unknown collector's library.

LIS. Very true; and yet you have only Master Stubbes's work after
all!

LOREN. Even so. But this _fictitious_ happiness, as you would call it,
is, in effect, _real_ happiness; inasmuch as it produces positive
sensations of delight.

LIS. Well, there is no arguing with such a bibliomaniac as yourself,
Lorenzo.

BELIN. But allow, brother, that this degree of happiness, of which
you boast, is not quite so exquisite as to justify the very high terms
of purchase upon which it is often times procured.

LYSAND. There is no such thing as the 'golden mediocrity' of Horace in
book pursuits. Certain men set their hearts upon certain copies, and
'_coute qu'il coute_' they must secure them. Undoubtedly, I would
give not a little for Parker's own copy of the Book of _Common
Prayer_, and Shakspeare's own copy of both parts of his _Henry the
Fourth_.

ALMAN. Well, Lisardo, we stand no chance of stemming the torrent
against two such lusty and opiniated bibliomaniacs as my brother and
Lysander: although I should speak with deference of, and acknowledge
with grateful respect, the extraordinary exertions of the latter, this
evening, to amuse and instruct us.

LIS. This evening?----say, this day:--this live-long day--and
yesterday also! But have you quite done, dear Lysander?

LYSAND. Have you the conscience to ask for more? I have brought you
down to the year of our Lord _One thousand eight hundred and eleven_;
and without touching upon the collections of LIVING BIBLIOMANIACS, or
foretelling what may be the future ravages of the Bibliomania in the
course of only the next dozen years, I think it proper to put an end
to my BOOK-COLLECTING HISTORY, and more especially to this long trial
of your auricular patience.

LOREN. A thousand thanks for your exertions! Although your friend,
with whom you are on a visit, knows pretty well the extent of my
bibliographical capacity, and that there have been many parts in your
narrative which were somewhat familiar to m