rum Chemicum_; p. 439.]

The mention of Edward the Third, as a patron of learned men, must
necessarily lead a book-antiquary to the notice of his eminent
chancellor, RICHARD DE BURY; of whom, as you may recollect, some
slight mention was made the day before yesterday.[263] It is hardly
possible to conceive a more active and enthusiastic lover of books
than was this extraordinary character; the passion never deserting him
even while he sat upon the bench.[264] It was probably De Bury's
intention to make his royal master eclipse his contemporary CHARLES
THE VTH, of France--the most renowned foreign bibliomaniac of his
age![265] In truth, my dear friends, what can be more delightful to a
lover of his country's intellectual reputation than to find such a
character as De Bury, in such an age of war and bloodshed, uniting the
calm and mild character of a legislator, with the sagacity of a
philosopher, and the elegant-mindedness of a scholar! Foreigners have
been profuse in their commendations of him, and with the greatest
justice; while our Thomas Warton, of ever-to-be-respected memory, has
shewn us how pleasingly he could descend from the graver tone of a
historical antiquary, by indulging himself in a chit-chat style of
book-anecdote respecting this illustrious character.[266]

[Footnote 263: See p. 29, ante.]

[Footnote 264: "--patescebat nobis aditus facilis, regalis
favoris intuitu, ad librorum latebras libere perscrutandas.
Amoris quippe nostri fama volatilis jam ubique percrebuit,
tamtumque librorum, et maxime veterum, ferebamur cupiditate
languescere; posse vero quemlibet, nostrum _per quaternos_
facilius, quam _per pecuniam_, adipisci favorem."
_Philobiblion; sive de Amore Librorum_ (vide p. 29, ante),
p. 29: edit. 1599, 4to. But let the reader indulge me with
another extract or two, containing evidence [Transcriber's
Note: 'of' missing in original] the most unquestionable of
the severest symptoms of the BIBLIOMANIA that ever assailed
a Lord Chancellor or a Bishop!--Magliabechi must have read
the ensuing passage with rapture: "Quamobrem cum praedicti
principis recolendae memoriae bonitate suffulti, possemus
obesse et prodesse, officere et proficere vehementer tam
maioribus quam pusillis; affluxerunt, loco xeniorum et
munerum, locoque, donorum et iocalium, temulenti quaterni,
ac decripiti codices; nostris tamen tam affec