re
delicate ground. First editions of really great men, such as Milton,
Pope, or Dryden, probably will always command a high price not only on
account of their scarcity but because they are sought for by all students
who make a study of those authors. But when we come to those more modern
writers concerning whose merits tastes differ, then the collector's
activity becomes a gamble. The first editions of Thomas Hardy or Rudyard
Kipling _may_ be worth more than their weight in gold in a hundred years,
but it is also quite possible that succeeding generations will find in
them more of the sentiments of the day than of those innate
characteristics of the human mind which make a book really great, and
will pass them by. This matter, however, has been dealt with in the
chapter on the Books of the Collector, and with regard to bibliographies
of the writings of the chief nineteenth-century authors, you will find
mention of these in the appendices to the later volumes of the
'Cambridge History of English Literature.'

[Sidenote: Folk-Lore, Mysteries.]

25. Folk-lore, Fables, Fairy-Tales, Accounts of Mysteries and
Miracle-Plays, Mummers, Minstrels and Troubadours, Pageants, Masques and
Moralities: an interesting medley. Books of fables, whether by AEsop,
Bidpai, La Fontaine, Gay, or Kriloff, would form an interesting
collection by themselves, and it would be amusing to trace the pedigree
of some of the tales. Our national jokes are said to be very ancient in
origin; possibly some day the Curate's Egg will be traced to a budding
priest of Amen-Ra, lunching with the Hierophant. Then there are books of
proverbs--more than one would think--and the folk-lore of all countries
that provides fairy-tales more entertaining than ever came out of the
head of Perrault or Andersen. Altogether a heading which contains some
fascinating literature.

It is doubtful whether such books as the 'Arabian Nights,' Le Grand's
collections of ancient Norman tales, and Balzac's 'Contes Drolatiques'
should be included here; perhaps _de natura_ they should be classed
rather with 'Facetiae and Curiosa.' The literature upon this subject is a
large one, and there is an excellent list of writings upon Minstrels,
Mysteries, Miracle Plays, and Moralities in the fifth volume of the
'Cambridge History of English Literature,' pages 385 to 394; as well as
in Mr. Courtney's invaluable work.

[Sidenote: Freemasonry, etc.]

26. Freemasonry is another of those subjec