will probably never be surpassed. Secondly, if it be a
_legitimate_ mode of computation--taking two books for each article,
one with another, throughout the entire catalogue--it will follow that
the entire library of Mr. Heber, in England, contained not fewer than
_one hundred and five thousand volumes_. The _net_ amount of the SALE
of this unparalleled mass of books is said to have been L55,000: a
large sum, when the deductions from commissionship and the
government-tax be taken into consideration.[475] Dr. Harwood thought
that the sale of Askew Library was a remarkable one, from its bringing
a guinea per article--one with another--of the 4015 articles of which
the library was composed. The _history_ of the Heber Sale might
furnish materials for a little jocund volume, which can have nothing
to do here; although there is more than _one_ party, mixed up with the
tale, who will find anything but cause of _mirth_ in the recital. That
such a MONUMENT, as this library, should have been suffered to crumble
to pieces, without a syllable said of its owner, is, of all the
marvellous occurrences in this marvellous world, one of the most
marvellous: and to be deprecated to the latest hour. Yet, who was
surrounded by a larger troop of friends than the Individual who raised
the Monument?

[Footnote 475: These deductions, united, are about 17 per
cent.: nearly L10,000 to be deducted from the gross
proceeds.]

One anecdote may be worth recording. The present venerable and deeply
learned President of Magdalen College, Oxford, told me that, on
casting up the number of odd--or appendant volumes, (as 2 or 12 more)
to the several articles in the catalogue--he found it to amount to
_four thousand_. Now, prima facie, it seems hardly credible that
there should have been _such_ a number, in _such_ a library, not
deserving of mention as distinct articles: but it must be taken into
consideration that Mr. Heber bought _many_ lots for the sake of _one_
particular book: and, considering the enormous extent of his library,
it is not a very violent supposition, or inference, that these 4000
volumes were scarcely deserving of a more particular notice.

PONTEVALLO was the late JOHN DENT, Esq., whose library was sold in
1827; and of which library that of the late Robert Heathcote formed
the basis. It contained much that was curious, scarce, and delectable;
but the sale of it exhibited the first grand melancholy symptoms of
the decay