and by
means of the scissars, or otherwise by transcription] every page or
paragraph which has any connexion with the character or subject under
discussion. This is a useful[435] and entertaining mode of
illustrating a favourite author; and copies of works of this nature,
when executed by skilful hands, should be deposited in public
libraries; as many a biographical anecdote of eminent literary
characters is preserved in consequence. I almost ridiculed the idea of
an _Illustrated Chatterton_, 'till the sight of your friend BERNARDO'S
copy, in eighteen volumes, made me a convert to the utility that may
be derived from a judicious treatment of this symptom of the
Bibliomania: and indeed, of a rainy day, the same bibliomaniac's
similar copy of _Walton's Complete Angler_ affords abundant amusement
in the perusal.

[Footnote 435: Numerous are the instances of the peculiar
use and value of copies of this kind; especially to those
who are engaged in publications of a similar nature. OLDYS'S
_interleaved Langbaine_ (of Mr. Reed's transcript of which a
copy is in the possession of Mr. Heber) is re-echoed in
almost every recent work connected with the belles-lettres
of our country. Oldys himself was unrivalled in this method
of illustration; if, exclusively of Langbaine, his copy of
_Fuller's Worthies_ [once Mr. Steevens', now Mr. Malone's.
See _Bibl. Steevens_, no. 1799] be alone considered! This
Oldys was the oddest mortal that ever wrote. Grose, in his
_Olio_, gives an amusing account of his having "a number of
small parchment bags inscribed with the names of the persons
whose lives he intended to write; into which he put every
circumstance and anecdote he could collect, and from thence
drew up his history." See Noble's _College of Arms_, p. 420.
Thus far the first edition of this work; p. 64. It remains
to add that, whatever were the singularities and
capriciousness of Oldys, his talents were far beyond
mediocrity; as his publication of the _Harleian Miscellany_,
and _Raleigh's History of the World_, abundantly prove. To
the latter, a life of Raleigh is prefixed; and the number of
pithy, pleasant, and profitable notes subjoined shew that
Oldys's bibliographical talents were not eclipsed by those
of any contemporary. His _British Librarian_ has been more
than once noticed in the preceding pages: