d his candle and sank upon his bed to rest. The heat
of the evening seemed to increase. He became restless, and throwing
off his quilt and drawing his curtain aside, turned towards the window
to inhale the last breeze which yet might be wafted from the
neighbouring heath. But no zephyr was stirring. On a sudden a broad
white flash of lightning--nothing more than summer heat--made our
bibliomaniac lay his head upon his pillow and turn his eyes in an
opposite direction. The lightning increased; and one flash more vivid
than the rest illuminated the interior of the closet and made manifest
an old mahogany book-case stored with books. Up started Ferdinand and
put his phosphoric treasures into action. He lit his match and trimmed
his candle and rushed into the closet, no longer mindful of the
heavens, which now were in a blaze with the summer heat.

"The book-case was guarded both with glass and brass wires; and the
key--nowhere to be found! Hapless man! for to his astonishment he saw
_Morte d'Arthur_, printed by Caxton--_Richard Coeur de Lion_, by W. de
Worde--_The Widow Edyth_, by Pynson--and, towering above the rest, a
large-paper copy of the original edition of _Prince's Worthies of
Devon_, while lying transversely at the top reposed John Weever's
_Epigrams_!

"'The spirit of Captain Cox is here revived,' exclaimed Ferdinand;
while on looking above he saw a curious set of old plays with _Dido,
Queen of Carthage_, at the head of them! What should he do? No key! No
chance of handling such precious tomes till the morning light with the
landlord returned!

"He moved backwards and forwards with a hurried step, prepared his
pocketknife to cut out the panes of glass and untwist the brazen
wires; but a 'prick of conscience' made him desist from carrying his
wicked design into execution. Ferdinand then advanced towards the
window, and, throwing it open and listening to the rich notes of a
concert of nightingales, forgot the cause of his torments--his
situation reminded him of _The Churl and the Bird_--he rushed with
renewed madness into the cupboard, then searched for the bell, but
finding none, he made all sorts of strange noises. The landlady rose,
and, conceiving robbers to have broken into the stranger's room, came
and demanded the cause of the disturbance.

"'Madam,' said Ferdinand, 'is there no possibility of inspecting the
books in the cupboard? Where is the key?'

"'Alack, sir,' rejoined the landlady, 'what is there