ss two of the latter, a
Terence and a Juvenal; the second, curiously enough, lettered
"Juvenal_u_s," a regular binder's blunder. They are called pocket
editions, but are much larger than the Elzevirs, and, though very
pretty, just miss that peculiar beauty and finish which have made the
former the delight of all scholars. There is a carelessness
somewhere--it is hard to say where--about the printing, which prevents
their being perfect; but a "Sandby" is a very nice thing.

My next "wanity" is a Virgil,--Justice's Virgil; a most elaborate and
elegant edition, in five octavo volumes, published in the middle of the
last century. It is noted, first, for the great richness and beauty of
its engravings from ancient gems, coins, and drawings, which form an
unrivalled body of illustration to the text. But, secondly, it will be
seen, on inspection, that the whole book is one vast engraving, every
line, word, and letter being cut on a metallic plate. Consequently, only
every other page is printed on. The same idea was still more perfectly
carried out by Pine, a few years later, who executed all Horace in this
way, but only lived to complete one volume of Virgil, choicer even than
Justice's. It is well bound, in perfect order, and ranks with the
choicest of ornamental classics.

Side by side with this Virgil is another, the rare Elzevir Virgil, and a
gem, if ever there was one. It is the corrected text of Heinsius, and
thus has a fair claim to rank as the earliest of the modern critical
editions of Maro. The elegance of this little book in size and shape,
the clearness and beauty of the type, and the truly classical taste and
finish of the whole design, can never be surpassed in Virgilian
bibliography, unless by Didot's matchless little copies. Elzevir Virgils
are common enough; but mine is, as I have said, the rare Elzevir, known
by the pages introductory to the Eclogues and AEneid being printed in
rubric, while the ordinary Elzevirs have them in black. It dates
1637,--the year when John Harvard left his money to the College at
Newtowne, and the first printing-press in the United States was set up
hard by.

The books, then, that I have described so far all date within the two
hundred and thirty years of our collegiate history. But I have behind
three of an earlier--a much earlier date; books which John Cotton and
Charles Chauncy might have gazed upon as old in Emmanuel College
Library.

First, I show you a pair of Aldines, a