12,000 volumes. Denis appears to have been a genuine
book-collector and a man of some taste, with the very natural result
that they soon parted company. Lackington was as vain and officious a
charlatan as ever stepped in shoe-leather--a trade to which he had been
brought up, by the way--but that he had organizing abilities of a very
uncommon order there can be no question. He found the catalogue business
a great success, and in due course issued one of 820 pages, with
entries of nearly 30,000 volumes and sets of books, all classified under
subjects as well as sizes. For thirteen years (after 1763) Lackington
did all his own cataloguing. In 1798 the Temple of the Muses was made
over to George Lackington, Allen and Co. The former was a third cousin
of the founder of the firm, and is described by John Nichols as 'well
educated and gentlemanly.'

[Illustration: _Lackington's Halfpenny._]

When he retired from the business, Lackington enjoyed himself to the top
of his bent, travelling all over the kingdom in his state coach and
scribbling. His 'Confessions' appeared in 1804, and form a sequel to his
'Memoirs,' already mentioned. He died on November 22, 1815, and is
buried at Budleigh Salterton, Devon. As a bookseller, he certainly was a
success--perhaps, indeed, one of the most successful, all things
considered, that ever lived in London. He is a hero in pretty much the
same sense as James Boswell. He had, as a matter of course, his
detractors. His contemporary booksellers loved him not, for his methods
of quick sales and small profits were things unheard of until he
appeared on the scene. Peter Pindar's 'Ode to the Hero of Finsbury
Square, 1795,' is a choice specimen of this witty writer. It begins:

'Oh! thou whose mind, unfetter'd, undisguised,
Soars like the lark into the empty air;
Whose arch exploits by subtlety devised,
Have stamped renown on Finsbury's New Square,
Great "hero" list! Whilst the sly muse repeats
Thy nuptial ode, thy prowess great _in sheets_.'

Accompanying this ode was a woodcut, which represents Lackington
mounting his gorgeous carriage upon steps formed by Tillotson's
'Sermons,' a Common Prayer, and a Bible; from one of his pockets there
protrudes a packet of papers, labelled 'Puffs and lies for my book,' and
from the other 'My own memoirs.'

The 'Co.' of George Lackington, Allen and Co. was a Mr. Hughes. At the
next shuffling of cards the firm consisted