of which
the reader has just had ocular demonstration. After such an
account, what bibliomaniac can enjoy perfect tranquillity of
mind unless he possess a _Grollier copy_ of some work or
other? My own, from which the preceding fac-simile was
taken, is a folio edition (1531) of _Rhenanus, de rebus
Germanicis_; in the finest preservation.]

PHIL. Lysander will best observe upon him.

LYSAND. Nay; his character cannot be in better hands.

PHIL. Grollier was both the friend and the treasurer of Francis the
First; the bosom companion of De Thou, and a patron of the Aldine
family. He had learning, industry, and inflexible integrity. His
notions of _Virtu_ were vast, but not wild. There was a magnificence
about every thing which he did or projected; and his liberality was
without bounds. He was the unrivalled Mecaenas of book-lovers and
scholars; and a more insatiable bibliomaniacal appetite was never,
perhaps, possessed by any of _his_ class of character.

LIS. I thank you for this _Grollieriana_. Proceed, Lysander with your
large paper copies.

ALMAN. But first tell us--why are these copies so much coveted? Do
they contain more than the ordinary ones?

LYSAND. Not in the least. Sometimes, however, an extra embellishment
is thrown into the volume--but this, again, belongs to the fourth
class of symptoms, called _Unique Copies_--and I must keep strictly to
order; otherwise I shall make sad confusion.

BELIN. Keep to your large paper, exclusively.[430]

[Footnote 430: Let us first hear Dr. Ferriar's smooth
numbers upon this tremendous symptom of the Bibliomania:

But devious oft, from ev'ry classic Muse,
The keen collector meaner paths will choose:
And first the MARGIN'S BREADTH his soul employs,
Pure, snowy, broad, the type of nobler joys.
In vain might Homer roll the tide of song,
Or Horace smile, or Tully charm the throng;
If crost by Pallas' ire, the trenchant blade
Or too oblique, or near, the edge invade,
The Bibliomane exclaims, with haggard eye,
'NO MARGIN!'--turns in haste, and scorns to buy.

_The Bibliomania_; v. 34-43.

Next come the rivals strains of 'An Aspirant.'

FIRST MAXIM.

Who slaves the monkish folio through,
With lore or science in his view,
_Him_ ... visions black, or devils blue,
S