h was put by Wanley into the
Harleian collection. The following entry is too much of a
characteristic trait, not to be gratifying to the palate of
a thorough bred bibliomaniac; it relates to the said
Chartulary:--"also this vellum, at both ends of the booke,
was then added, put in, and inserted, at the costs of the
said Mr. (JOHN) WARD, in the said yeare of our Lord, 1655,

_s._ _d._
binding and claspes 4 00
vellum 4 00"

_Annals of Dunstaple Priory_, vol. i., p. xxx., note.]

LIS. If Master Cox, "by profession a mason," and living in the
country, could have collected such a cabinet of romances and
ballads--why should not a wine merchant, living in the metropolis,
have turned his attention to a similar pursuit, and have been even
more successful in the objects of it?

PHIL. I know not; particularly as we have, at the present day, some
commercial characters--whose dealings in trade are as opposite to
books as frogs are to roast beef--absolute madmen in search after
black-letter, large paper, and uncut copies! But proceed, Lysander.

LYSAND. Such was the influence of the _Book Mania_ about, or rather a
little before, this period that even the sacred retirement of a
monastery, established upon Protestant principles, and conducted by
rules so rigid as almost to frighten the hardiest ascetic, even such a
spot was unable to resist the charms of book-collecting and
book-embellishment. How St. Jerome or St. Austin would have lashed the
FERRAR FAMILY[349] for the gorgeous decorations of their volumes, and
for devoting so much precious time and painful attention to the art
and mystery of Book-binding! Yes, Lisardo; it is truly curious to
think upon the _Little Gidding Monastery_--near which, perhaps, were

----"rugged rocks, that holy knees had worn--"

and to imagine that the occupiers of such a place were infected--nay,
inflamed--with a most powerful ardour for curious, neat, splendid,
and, I dare venture to affirm, matchless copies of the several volumes
which they composed! But I will now hasten to give very different
evidence of the progress of this disease, by noticing the labours of a
bibliomaniac of first rate celebrity; I mean ELIAS ASHMOLE:[350] whose
museum at Oxford abundantly proves his curious and pertinacious
spirit in book-collecting. His works, put forth under his own
superintendence, with