form us what are the means of cure in this disorder?

LYSAND. You should say PROBABLE MEANS OF CURE, as I verily believe
there are no certain and correct remedies.

BELIN. Well, Sir, _probable_ means--if it must be so. Discourse
largely and distinctly upon these.

LYSAND. Briefly and perspicuously, if you please: and thus we begin.

In the _first place_, the disease of the Bibliomania is materially
softened, or rendered mild, by directing our studies to _useful_ and
_profitable_ works; whether these be printed upon small or large
paper, in the gothic, roman, or italic type. To consider merely the
_intrinsic excellence_, and not the _exterior splendour_, or
adventitious value, of any production will keep us perhaps wholly free
from this disease. Let the midnight lamp be burnt to illuminate the
stores of antiquity--whether they be romances, or chronicles, or
legends, and whether they be printed by ALDUS or CAXTON--if a brighter
lustre can thence be thrown upon the pages of modern learning! To
trace genius to its source, or to see how she has been influenced or
modified by the lore of past times, is both a pleasing and profitable
pursuit. To see how Shakspeare, here and there, has plucked a flower
from some old ballad or popular tale, to enrich his own unperishable
garland;--to follow Spenser and Milton in their delightful labyrinths
'midst the splendour of Italian literature; are studies which stamp a
dignity upon our intellectual characters! But, in such a pursuit, let
us not overlook the wisdom of modern times, nor fancy that what is
only ancient can be excellent. We must remember that Bacon, Boyle,
Locke, Taylor, Chillingworth, Robertson, Hume, Gibbon, and Paley, are
names which always command attention from the wise, and remind us of
the improved state of reason and acquired knowledge during the two
last centuries.

ALMAN. There seems at least sound sense, with the prospect of much
future good, in this _first_ recipe. What is your second.

LYSAND. In the _second place_, the reprinting of scarce and
intrinsically valuable works is another means of preventing the
propagation of this disorder. Amidst all our present sufferings under
the BIBLIOMANIA, it is some consolation to find discerning and
spirited booksellers republishing the ancient Chroniclers; and the
collections known by the names of "_The Harleian Miscellany_" and
"_Lord Somers' Tracts_," and "_The Voyages of Hakluyt_."[464] These
are noble efforts, and