sense of the talents of the author, and his respect for the
family where it had been placed. It may be doubtful whether the
autograph of any poem, since Paradise Lost, would have obtained a
larger sum--had it been submitted to public sale.

RINALDO.--Rinaldo was the late Mr. EDWARDS; of the sale of whose
library an extended account will be found in my Decameron. It remains,
briefly, but emphatically, to remark, that of all the book heroes,
whose valorous achievements are here recorded, TWO only have survived
the lapse of thirty years. Let _half_ of another similar course of
time roll on, and where will the SURVIVORS be? If not at rest in their
graves, they will in all probability be "sans teeth, sans eyes, sans
everything:"--at least, very far beyond "the lean and slippered
pantaloon." Leaving my surviving friends to fight their own battles, I
think I may here venture to say, in quiet simplicity and singleness of
heart, that books, book-sales, and book-men, will then--if I am
spared--pass before me as the faint reflex of "the light of OTHER
DAYS!" ... when literary enterprise and literary fame found a
proportionate reward; and when the sickly sentimentality of the
novelist had not usurped the post of the instructive philologist. But
enough of ROSICRUSIS.

[Illustration: CONSTANTIA LABORE ET]

PART IV.

THE LIBRARY.

This Part embraces the _History of Literature_, in the formation of
Libraries, from the Conquest to the commencement of the reign of Henry
VIII., and undoubtedly contains much that is curious and instructive.
Two new characters only are introduced: LORENZO and NARCOTTUS. The
former was intended to represent the late Sir Masterman Mark Sykes,
Bart.: the latter, a William Templeman, Esq., of Hare Hatch,
Berkshire. Sir Mark Sykes was not less known than respected for the
suavity of his manners, the kindness of his disposition, and the
liberality of his conduct on all matters connected with _books_ and
_prints_. A long and particular account of his library, and of many of
his book-purchases, will be seen in the third volume of the
_Bibliographical Decameron_; and at pages 321, 373 of my _Literary
Reminiscences_. His library and his prints brought, each, pretty much
the same sum: together, L60,000--an astounding result! Sir Mark is the
last great bibliomaniacal Sun that has shed its golden, as well as
parting, rays, upon a terribly chap-fallen British public! Mr.
Templeman, represented as Narcottu