or covered with baize
before you place a single volume on the shelves. Should you wish your
work to look particularly neat, you may putty over the heads of the
screws before you begin staining operations. An additional 'finish' is
given by numbering the cases with Roman numerals in gold upon small
stained blocks (about 2 inches by 11/4 inches) affixed to the top of each
case. The shelves may also be lettered with letters of the alphabet cut
out of gold paper.

But perhaps you may prefer to designate the cases of your library by the
names of ancient Rome, as was the practice followed notably in these days
in the library of Sir Robert Cotton. It is a pleasant conceit, and there
is certainly something more dignified about 'Vespasian, VII, 7,' or
'Cleopatra, IV, 26' than there is about a mere 'B, VI, 8,' or
'XIV, C, 16.' Asinius Pollio, that great warrior, historian, and
book-lover of the Augustan age, is said to have been the first to adorn
his library with portraits and busts of celebrated men as well as with
statues of Minerva and the Muses, an example that was soon followed by
others. Pollio was the first to found a public library at Rome, which he
endowed with the money obtained in his Illyrian campaign, says Pliny: but
in how many public libraries at the present day will you find a memorial
of this great patron of Virgil and Horace?

The effect of placing statuettes of marble or plaster, about sixteen
inches high, on the top of one's book-cases is singularly pleasing; and
there is an appropriateness about it to the eye that it is impossible to
describe. One may have beautiful reproductions of all the most famous
classical statues and busts for a few shillings. What can be more
appropriate than for Calliope to preside over your case containing Homer
and Virgil, Dante and Milton; or that Euterpe should be enthroned above
Theocritus and Horace, Shelley and Swinburne? You may carry your fancy on
these lines as far as you like, and you may include any figure that
pleases you, from the well-known 'Discobolus' (over your case of sporting
books!) to the exquisite statue which many still persist in calling the
'Venus de Milo.'[49]

A friend of our book-hunter has adopted a somewhat similar plan. Above
each case in his library he has placed an oaken shield on which are
emblazoned the arms of one of the ancient historic families of England,
such as Warren, Clare, Mortimer, or Doyly. The effect is striking, and
the bold colou