r so, who dine together a certain
number of times in the year, and each member in his turn republishes
some old tract at his own expense. There are just so many copies printed
as there are members of the club, and one copy is presented to each. It
is evident that no sort of good can be effected by this system, and,
indeed, there has not yet resulted any benefit to the literature of the
country from the Roxburghe Club. They have not published a single book
of any conceivable merit. The truth is that the members, for the most
part, are a set of persons of no true taste, of no proper notion of
learning and its uses--very considerable persons in point of wealth, but
very _so-so_ in point of intellect.'

[Illustration: _Thomas Frognall Dibdin, Bibliographer._]

The primary aim and object of the Roxburghe Club were clearly enough
indicated in the first list of members, for the association of men with
kindred tastes is at all times a highly commendable one. The Roxburghe
Club might have sustained its _raison d'etre_, if it had drawn the line
at such men as Thomas Frognall Dibdin and Joseph Hazlewood. The
foregoing extract from the _Museum_ of 1823 exactly indicates the
position which the club at that time held in public estimation. It had
degenerated into a mere drinking and gormandizing association, alike a
disgrace to its more respectable members and an insult to the nobleman
whose name it was dragging through the mire. Those who have an
opportunity of consulting the _Athenaeum_ for 1834 will find, in the
first four issues of January, one of the most scathing exposures to
which any institution has ever been subjected. Hazlewood had died, and
his books came into the sale-room. Never had the adage of 'Dead men tell
no tales' been more completely falsified. Hazlewood, who does not seem
to have been unpleasantly particular in telling the truth when living,
told it with a vengeance after his death; for among his papers there was
a bundle entitled 'Roxburghe Revels,' which Thorpe purchased for L40,
the editor of the _Athenaeum_ being the under-bidder. A few days
afterwards, and for the weighty consideration of a L10 note profit, the
lot passed into the hands of Mr. Dilke, and the articles to which we
have referred followed.[64:A] If anything could have made the deceased
Joseph turn in his grave, it would have been the attention which he
received at the unsparing hands of Mr. Dilke. The excellent Mr. Dibdin
survived the exposure s