en silence; and there is no record of its
existence in those of our Journals which affect to strike the key-note
only of what is valuable in science, literature, and the fine arts.
Painful as it must ever be to my feelings to contrast the avidity of
former purchasers to become possessed of it with the caprice and
non-chalance which have marked the conduct of those possessors
themselves, I will yet hope that, in the bosom of the SUCCESSOR to
this matchless Library--as well as to the name and fortunes of its
late owner--there will ever remain but _one feeling_, such as no
misconception and no casualty will serve to efface. It is pleasing,
yea, soothing, 'midst the buffetting surges of later life, to be able
to keep the anchor of one's vessel _well bit_ in the interstices of
granite.

Much later than the publication last alluded to, were the sale
catalogues of the Libraries of Sir MARK MASTERMAN SYKES, Bart.,
deceased; the Rev. HENRY DRURY; GEORGE HIBBERT, Esq., deceased; and
Sir FRANCIS FREELING, Bart., deceased. They were all sold by Mr.
Evans, of Pall Mall; as well indeed as was the Library of the late
Duke of Marlborough, when Marquis of Blandford. What books! And what
prices! It should seem that "there were giants," both in purse and
magnitude of metal, "in those days!" But a mighty "man in valour" has
recently sprung up amongst us; who, spurning the acquisition of
solitary _lots_, darts down upon a whole _Library_, and bears it off
"at one fell swoop." Long life to the spirit which possesses him! It
is almost a national redemption.

PART III.

THE AUCTION-ROOM.

We are here introduced into one of the most bustling and
spirit-stirring portions of the whole Work. It is full of
characters--alas! now, with only _two_ exceptions, mouldering in their
coffins! Philemon (who was one of my earliest and steadiest friends)
introduces us to a character, which, under the name of ORLANDO, made
some impression upon the public, as it was thought to represent
MICHAEL WODHULL, Esq., of Thenford Hall, near Banbury; an admirable
Greek scholar (the translator of Euripides), and perhaps the most
learned bibliographer of his age. The conjecture of Orlando being the
representative of Mr. Wodhull was not a vain conjecture; although
there were, necessarily (I will not say _why_), parts that slightly
varied from the original. Mr. Wodhull re-appears, in his natural
person, in the _Bibliographical Decameron_, vol. iii. p. 363-6. Si