THE BOOK-LOVERS' ANTHOLOGY

LEARNING'S PANTHEON: THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY, OXFORD

THE BOOK-LOVERS' ANTHOLOGY

EDITED BY
R. M. LEONARD

'Here I have but gathered a nosegay of strange floures, and have put nothing of mine into it but the thred to binde them.'

Montaigne (Florio's translation)

HENRY FROWDE
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON, NEW YORK, TORONTO AND MELBOURNE

1911

OXFORD: HORACE HART
PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY

PREFACE

One of the most delightful of the Last Essays of Elia is entitled 'Detached Thoughts on Books and Reading', a title which would serve very well to indicate the contents of this anthology. In bringing together into one volume the tributes and opinions of a galaxy of writers, my object has been the glorification of books as books, a book being regarded as a real and separate entity, and often as an end in itself. There is a wide circle to whom this collection should appeal, in addition to bibliomaniacs or mere collectors of first or rare editions to whom the contents are often anathema, for the love of books is not confined to scholars or great readers. This love is incommunicable: it comes, but happily seldom goes, as the wind which bloweth where it listeth; it is perfectly sincere, and knows nothing of conventions and sham admirations.

No greater lover of books has ever lived than that Englishman who was born at Bury St. Edmunds seven hundred and thirty years ago—Richard de Bury, Bishop of Durham, author of Philobiblon, and, as Lord Campbell said, undoubtedly the founder of the order of book-lovers in England. Centuries passed, and then the more modern worship of books was promoted by one of even higher station than this lord chancellor and lord high treasurer of England—by King James, whom sycophants and cynics called the British Solomon. The sixteenth century saw also the births of Bacon, Burton, and Florio, the inspired translator of Montaigne, and Ben Jonson, who all deserved well of the order. Milton, with prose and poetry, handed down the sacred fire in the seventeenth century, and his

soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart.

Dr. Johnson, nearly a hundred years later, filled a niche of his own, irreverent though he was to books except for their message. The latter half of the eighteenth century is especially memorable, for it synchronized with the early years of Southey, Lamb, and Leigh Hunt, the very temples of the spirit which I have sought to enshrine in these pages, and of Hazlitt, and of two who should be dear to librarians, Crabbe and John Foster. I should like to claim an honoured place in the nineteenth century for Bulwer Lytton, who, although he understood 'the merits of a spotless shirt', understood books also and appreciated them thoroughly; and for the Brownings, especially the author of Aurora Leigh. Emerson is conspicuous, not only as a book-lover, but also as a professor of books, and as a missionary in the sense that Carlyle and Ruskin preached the gospel of books. Many others deserve honourable mention, but I must pass on to some of those who adorn the present day. It would have been very pleasant to have seen Lord Morley, Mr. Frederic Harrison, Mr. Austin Dobson, Mr. Edmund Gosse, Mr. Andrew Lang, and Mr. Augustine Birrell appearing in this cloud of witness, but happily they are alive to testify to the faith that is in them, and for that reason are beyond the scope of an anthology confined to authors who are dead.

It may be pointed out that there has been an increasing tendency to write not so much about books as about the authors of books; but to have included literary criticism, except incidentally, would have increased this volume to prodigious size. While I have been obliged for the same reason to ignore, as a rule, individual volumes, an exception has been made of the Bible, which is itself a library, and this is justified by the fact that many pages are devoted to libraries. Scores of poems have been prefixed to volumes or addressed in apology to possible readers, but these, and colophons, interesting though they may be, do not fit in with my scheme. However tempting it seemed to give versions of Catullus, Horace, or Martial, translations from ancient classic writers have been excluded; but room has been found for classic writers of comparatively modern times, for it would have been ridiculous to have passed over, for example, Montaigne, whose immortal essays have been handed down in the splendid English dress of John Florio's design. For the rest, the contents of this volume, in which more than 200 authors bear their varying testimony, must speak for themselves.

The passages will be found grouped more or less according to subjects, though the dividing lines are fine, and chronological order within the limits of the groups has been a secondary consideration. After forewords by Lamb, the anthology deals with books as companions, the love of and delight in books, the immortality of books and the immortality which they convey, the multiplicity of books and the distraction of choice; ancient and modern books and their respective claims; books that are or may be thought injurious; novels and romances; bookmaking of various kinds—plagiarism, books about books, anthologies, abridgements, dedications, presentation copies, bibliographies, translations, and quotations; books and preachers, and books as 'the true university of these days'; critics and criticism; rules for reading, commonplace-books, abstracts, epitomes, and marginalia; casual and superficial reading, talking from books, brains turned by books, over-reading; books and life; books as an enemy to health and as pharmaceutical preparations for mental indisposition; reading in bed, at meal-times, and out-of-doors, and the call of the book of nature; the horn-book and other books for children; advice on youthful reading, and the early preferences of some notable book-lovers; love and literature, and the conflict between matrimony and the library; women and books and libraries; the human species of book-worms, bibliomaniacs, and pedants; the proper handling of books; bindings, book illustrations, &c.; book pests—worms and moths; 'finds' at second-hand bookshops and what Leigh Hunt calls 'bookstall urbanity'; booksellers and publishers; mammon and books; book borrowers and book borrowing; bookish similes; books for magic; the Bible; literary geography; libraries—as studies and keys to character, private libraries real and imaginary, public libraries—from the provincial reference library to the British Museum, reflections in libraries, Crabbe's masterpiece, the libraries of Oxford and Cambridge with fitting tributes to Bodley; and, finally, a memorable tribute to books and the priceless treasury that a library affords. The source of the quotations is generally given; and the index of authors quoted or referred to, together with a full list of contents, and, it is hoped, the notes, should serve the convenience of the reader.

Many years ago Mr. Alexander Ireland gave me a copy of The Book-Lover's Enchiridion, and my debt to that 'treasury of thoughts on the Solace and Companionship of Books' is great. Mr. Ireland's object was 'to present, in chronological order, a selection of the best thoughts of the greatest and wisest minds on the subject of Books—their solace and companionship—their efficacy as silent teachers and guides—and the comfort, as of a living presence, which they afford amidst the changes of fortune and the accidents of life.' In this volume I have taken the subject and myself less seriously than would have been possible to Mr. Ireland. The 'thoughts' which I have collected are more 'detached', and they cover a wider field. I am under much obligation also to the Ballads of Books, which Mr. Brander Matthews compiled nearly a quarter of a century ago and Mr. Andrew Lang recast, and to Mr. W. Roberts's Book-Verse. Mainly, however, I have relied upon my own personal reading—'blessing,' as Lamb said, 'my stars for a taste so catholic, so unexcluding'—and upon research, in which I have had invaluable assistance from friends and colleagues. I am fortunately able to include many copyright pieces, and I have to thank the following for the necessary permission:—

Messrs. G. Bell & Sons, Ltd., for B. W. Procter's autobiographical fragment, 'My Books'; Messrs. Chapman & Hall, for what I have taken from a contribution to the Fortnightly Review by Mark Pattison, and for the passage from Carlyle's Historical Sketches; Messrs. Chatto & Windus, for the poems by Laman Blanchard, also for the passage from R. Jefferies' Life of the Fields; and Messrs. Macmillan & Co., for the excerpt from the same author's The Dewy Morn; Messrs. Constable & Co., and the executors of the late George Gissing, for the passages from The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft; Mr. A. C. Fifield, for Samuel Butler's whimsical irreverence quoted from Quis Desiderio; Mr. Edward Garnett, for Richard Garnett's poem; the Houghton Mifflin Co., for Whittier's 'The Library'; Messrs. Longmans, Green & Co., for R. L. Stevenson's 'Picture Books in Winter' (and Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons in respect of copyright in America); Mr. Elkin Mathews, for Lionel Johnson's poem; Messrs. G. Routledge & Sons, Ltd., for Longfellow's 'My Books', and 'Bayard Taylor' (and the Houghton Mifflin Co. in respect of copyright in America); Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co., for J. A. Symonds's poem from Lyrics of Life; and Dr. A. Stoddart Walker, for permission to quote from J. S. Blackie's Self-Culture.

In Guesses at Truth the brothers Hare wrote: 'They who cannot weave a uniform net, may at least produce a piece of patchwork, which may be useful, and not without a charm of its own.' It is my modest ambition that book-lovers shall find this volume useful and not without charm.

R. M. Leonard.

CONTENTS

Addison, Joseph (1672-1719).
The Legacies of Genius[14]
The Authors' Advantage[60]
The evil that Men do[80]
A great Book is a great evil[119]
Chance Readings[145]
A Lady's Library[209]
Books for a Lady's Library[211]
Alcott, Amos Bronson (1799-1888).
The Fellowship of Books [6]
Alcuin or Ealwhine (735-804).
An Episcopal Library[311]
Arblay, Frances, Madame d' (1752-1840).
Royal Patronage of Books[253]
Armstrong, John (1709-79).
Read without Prejudice[127]
Arnold, Matthew (1822-88).
The Grand Mine of Diction[297]
Ascham, Roger (1515-68).
Books that do Hurt[77]
Epitomes[138]
Athenian Mercury, The
Whether 'tis lawful to read Romances[85]
Aungervile. See Bury.
Austen, Jane (1775-1817).
Only a Novel[87]
Bacon, Francis, Lord Verulam and Viscount St. Albans (1561-1626).
Enduring Monuments[46]
Old Authors to Read[65]
Dedications[97]
'Books will speak plain'[113]
Studies[124]
Commonplace Books[141]
Over-reading[157]
A great Necromancer[287]
The Shrines of the Ancient Saints[325]
Bailey, Philip James (1816-1902).
'Worthy Books'[5]
Bale, John, Bishop of Ossory (1495-1563).
A most Horrible Infamy[325]
Barclay, Alexander (1475?-1552).
Envoy to Fools[218]
Barnes, William (1801-86).
Learning[173]
Barrow, Isaac (1630-77).
He that loveth a Book will never want[3]
Barton, Bernard (1784-1849).
Composed in the Rev. J. Mitford's Library[324]
Baxter, Richard (1615-91).
Romances are Pernicious[84]
Books preferred to Preachers[108]
Bayly, Thomas Haynes (1797-1839).
A Novel of High Life[88]
Beaconsfield, Earl of. See Disraeli, Benjamin.
Beecher, Henry Ward (1813-1887).
The Bodleian: a Dead Sea of Books[364]
Beresford, James (1764-1840).
Bibliosophia[225]
Eye-worship[242]
Blackie, John Stuart (1809-95).
Overrating the Value of Books[162]
Blanchard, Samuel Laman (1804-45).
The Double Lesson[192]
The Art of Book-keeping[280]
Blount, Charles (1654-93).
The Imprimatur[119]
Boswell, James (1740-95). See also Johnson.
Shakespeare in Heaven[48]
Reading according to Inclination[128]
Johnson's Cursory Reading[148]
Talking from Books[153]
The Dog and the Bone[170]
Books you may hold in your hand[247]
Brant, Sebastian (1458-1521).
The Chief Fool[216]
Browne, Sir Thomas (1605-82).
Superfluous Books[58]
Browne, Sir William (1692-1774).
Oxford and Cambridge: an Epigram[113]
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett (1806-61).
'Books are men of higher stature'[39]
Reading as Intellectual Indolence[159]
The Poets[205]
The World of Books[206]
A Forced Sale[259]
The Library in the Garret[318]
Browning, Robert (1812-89).
Sibrandus Schafnaburgensis[236]
The Find[257]
Brydges, Grey, Lord Chandos (1579?-1621).
The greatest Clerks be not always the wisest Men[149]
Buckingham, Duke of. See Sheffield.
Bulwer. See Lytton, Lord.
Bunyan, John (1628-88).
The Scriptures: what are they?[292]
Burney, Fanny. See Arblay.
Burns, Robert (1759-96).
The Bookworms[249]
The big Ha'-Bible[298]
Burton, John Hill (1809-81).
A Sense of Humour[18]
A Course of Reading[134]
Definitions[235]
Burton, Robert (1577-1640).
An extraordinary Delight to study[26]
'Though they write contemptu gloriae'[51]
Every Man his Due[89]
Read the Scriptures[290]
To be chained with good Authors[356]
Bury, Richard de, Bishop of Durham (1281-1345).
The Desirable Tabernacle[13]
Books as Memorials[43]
Woman and Books[203]
Of Handling Books[239]
Deductions from Scripture[240]
Mammon and Books[273]
Butler, Joseph (1692-1752).
The Habit of Casual Reading[147]
Butler, Samuel (1612-80).
Superficial Readers[151]
Butler, Samuel (1835-1902).
Books in a New Light[330]
Byron, George Gordon, Lord (1788-1824).
A Lasting Link of Ages[52]
''Tis pleasant, sure'[95]
Love and the Library[198]
To Mr. Murray[268]
Calverley, Charles Stuart (1831-84).
Of Reading[135]
Campion, Thomas (1567?-1620).
The Writer to his Book[261]
Carlyle, Thomas (1795-1881).
The Miraculous Art of Writing[42]
The Virtue of a True Book[52]
The Real Working Effective Church[109]
The True University of These Days[112]
A Very Priceless Thing[295]
Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de (1547-1616).
'There is no Book so bad'[117]
The Burning of Don Quixote's Books[155]
Chandos, Lord. See Brydges.
Channing, William Ellery (1780-1842).
Books the True Levellers[19]
The Diffusion of Books and its Effect upon Culture[60]
Folly generated by Books[156]
Chaucer, Geoffrey (1340 ?-1400).
To Drive the Night Away[169]
Farewell to Books in Springtime[172]
The Oxford Scholar and his Books[216]
Chesterfield Earl of. See Stanhope.
Churchyard, Thomas (1520 ?-1604).
Books is Nurse to Truth[33]
Cobbett, William (1762-1835).
The Danger of Poets and Romances[86]
A Birth of Intellect[184]
Coleridge, Hartley (1796-1849).
Suitable Bindings[246]
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1772-1834).
Books as Fruitful Trees[129]
Reading to kill Time[153]
The Pilgrim's Progress[293]
Collier, Jeremy (1650-1726).
Of the Entertainment of Books[34]
Colton, Charles Caleb (1780 ?-1832).
'We should choose our Books'[6]
'There are many Books written'[120]
Readers and Writers[123]
Title-readers[154]
Books and Men[159]
Cook, Eliza (1818-89).
Old Story Books[177]
'Cornwall, Barry.' See Procter, B. W.
Cowley, Abraham (1618-67).
'May I a small house'[12]
Material for Poesy[295]
Pindaric Ode[360]
Cowper, William (1731-1800).
Books bad and good[81]
Swallowing the Husks[158]
'Twere well with most, if Books'[208]
An Ode to Mr. John Rouse (translated from Milton)[357]
Crabbe, George (1754-1832).
The Prouder Pleasures of the Mind[26]
The Old Bachelor's Books[21]
The Peasant's Library[317]
The Library[337]
Crashaw, Richard (1613 ?-49).
Upon the Book of St. Teresa[106]
On a Prayer-Book sent to Mrs. M. R.[200]
On George Herbert's The Temple, sent to a Gentlewoman[201]
Cross, Mary Ann. See Eliot.
Daniel, Samuel (1562-1619).
Immortality in Books[46]
O Blessed Letters[51]
To the Countess of Bedford[195]
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321).
Love's Purveyor[192]
Davenant, Sir William (1606-68).
Hidden Treasure[92]
Davies, Sir John (1569-1626).
What profits it[163]
Davy, Sir Humphry (1778-1829).
Permanence for Thought[41]
Dawson, George (1821-76).
The Consulting-room of a Wise Man[309]
The Reference Library[327]
Denham, Sir John (1615-69).
For wisdom, piety, delight, or use[33]
De Quincey, Thomas (1785-1859).
Instruction or Amusement[36]
The Distraction of Choice[61]
Dibdin, Thomas Frognall (1776-1847).
An Unworthy Professor[227]
A Bibliomaniac[228]
Book Illustrations and Nightmare[247]
Dickens, Charles (1812-70).
Early Reading[188]
What a Heart-breaking Shop[272]
Digby, Sir Kenelm (1603-65).
Reading in Bed[169]
Dillon, Wentworth, Earl of Roscommon (1633 ?-85).
'Choose an author as you choose a friend'[7]
Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield (1804-81).
'Lady Constance guanoed her mind'[88]
Biography preferred to History[99]
'The author who speaks about his own Books'[154]
D'Israeli, Isaac (1766-1848).
Golden volumes! richest treasures[226]
A Malady of weak Minds[227]
Accidents to Books[275]
Dodd, William (1729-77).
In Prison[15]
Donne, John (1573-1631).
Valediction to his Book[190]
The Library and the Grave[305]
Dovaston, John Freeman Milward (1782-1854).
The Cure for Bookworms[253]
Drayton, Michael (1563-1631).
Immortality in Song[56]
Translations from the Classics[100]
Drummond, William (1585-1649).
The Strange Quality of Books[47]
The Book of Nature[283]
Of Libraries: The Bodleian[355]
Dryden, John (1631-1700).
A Learned Plagiary[91]
Under Mr. Milton's Picture[106]
Dudley, Earl of. See Ward.
Dyer, George (1755-1841).
'Libraries are the wardrobes of literature'[306]
Ealwhine. See Alcuin.
Earle, John, Bishop of Salisbury (1601 ?-65).
'His Invention is no more'[94]
A Critic[114]
A Pretender to Learning[150]
An Antiquary[219]
'Eliot, George' (1819-80).
The Vocation[260]
'Wise books, For half the truths they hold'[287]
Of The Imitation of Christ[299]
Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-82).
A Company of the Wisest and the Wittiest[6]
The Theory of Books[21]
The Book the Highest Delight[28]
The pleasure derived from Books[29]
Our Debt to a Book[29]
A Sort of Third Estate[74]
On Reading Translations[99]
Merit in Quotation[103]
The Need of a Guide to Books[111]
The Final Verdict upon Books[116]
'Talent alone cannot make a writer'[116]
Reading between Lines[122]
Rules for Reading[132]
A Diet of Books[133]
Erasmus, Desiderius (1466 ?-1536).
The Royal Road[123]
Faber, Frederick William (1814-63).
The English of the Bible[297]
A College Library[365]
Ferriar, John (1761-1815).
The Bibliomania[220]
Fielding, Henry (1707-54).
The filial piety of Books[118]
Fletcher, John (1579-1625).
The Library a Glorious Court[305]
Fletcher, Phineas (1582-1650).
Upon my Brother's Book[106]
Foster, John (1770-1843).
The Influence of Books[38]
Reflections in a Library[332]
Fuller, Thomas (1608-61).
The Multiplicity of Books[57]
Printers gain by bad Books[79]
'A commonplace Book contains many notions'[142]
Garnett, Richard (1835-1906).
Our master, Meleager[95]
Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn (1810-65).
Books for the Salon[304]
Gay, John (1685-1732).
The Elephant and the Bookseller[264]
On a Miscellany of Poems[265]
Gibbon, Edward (1737-94).
Abstracts of Books[138]
Early Reading[183]
Women's Want[210]
Gilfillan, George (1813-78).
The True Poem on the Library[335]
Gissing, George (1857-1903).
The Mood for Books[40]
The Scent of Books[310]
Glanvill, Joseph (1636-80).
'That silly vanity of impertinent citations'[102]
The Mote and the Beam[118]
Godwin, William (1756-1836).
The Depositary of everything honourable[15]
Bad Books and debauched Minds[83]
Goldsmith, Oliver (1728-74).
Sweet Unreproaching Companions[4]
The Reading of New Books[67]
Literary Hypocrisy[115]
'I love everything that is old'[269]
Greene, Robert (1558-92).
Books for Magic[288]
Hale, Sir Matthew (1609-76).
No Book like the Bible[293]
Hales, John (1584-1656).
The Method of reading profane History[136]
Hall, John (1627-56).
Men in their Nightgowns[98]
When to Read[164]
Hall, Joseph, Bishop of Exeter and Norwich (1574-1656).
How to spend our Days[125]
Reading and Meal Times[170]
On the Sight of a Great Library[331]
Hamilton, Sir William (1788-1856).
Underscoring[140]
Hare, Augustus William (1792-1834), and Julius Charles Hare (1795-1855).
In the Seat of the Scorner[115]
Books of One Thought[121]
Purple Patches[122]
Books that provoke Thought[131]
Desultory Reading[148]
Brains squashed by Books[156]
Harington, Sir John (1561-1612).
Against writers that carp[114]
Hazlitt, William (1778-1830).
The only Things that last for ever[49]
On Reading Old Books[69]
On Reading New Books[71]
The best Books the commonest[182]
The visionary Gleam[189]
The enviable Bookworm[228]
Ears nailed to Books[229]
Helps, Sir Arthur (1813-75).
Biography[99]
Thoughts in a Library[334]
Hemans, Felicia Dorothea (1793-1835).
To a Family Bible[294]
Herbert, George (1593-1633).
The Parson's Accessory Knowledge[140]
Herrick, Robert (1591-1674).
To His Book[45]
'Thou art a plant.'
'Make haste away.'
'If hap it must.'
'The bound, almost.'
'Go thou forth.'
His Prayer for Absolution[77]
Virginibus Puerisque[84]
Lines have their linings, and Books their buckram[242]
Herschel, Sir John Frederick William (1792-1871).
A Taste to be Prayed For[27]
Novels as Engines of Civilization[87]
Hobbes, Thomas (1588-1679).
'If I had read as much as other men'[158]
Holmes, Oliver Wendell (1809-94).
Old and New Books[74]
Presentation Copies[98]
'The foolishest Book'[118]
The Literary Harem[233]
Purchasing an Act of Piety[258]
The Study[307]
The Library as a Key to Character[309]
'Every library should try to be complete'[318]
Hood, Thomas (1799-1845).
Rich Fare[29]
Howell, James (1594?-1666).
The Choice of Books[125]
Marriage and Books[198]
The Value of Book Borrowing[275]
Hunt, James Henry Leigh (1784-1859).
On Parting with my Books[9]
Love that is large[16]
Authors as Lovers of Books[20]
The Authors' Metamorphosis[50]
A Library of One[62]
A Literatura Hilaris[167]
Early Reading[187]
Kissing a Folio[233]
Delight in Book-Prints[248]
The Second-hand Catalogue[256]
Borrowing and Lending[278]
Wedded to Books[278]
The Book of Books[294]
Literary Geography[300]
Scotland[300]
England[301]
Ireland[302]
The Library as Study[305]
Charles Lamb's Library[323]
Irving, Washington (1783-1859).
True Friends that Cheer[9]
Jago, Richard (1715-81).
To a Lady furnishing her Library[212]
Jefferies, Richard (1848-87).
When Translations are to be preferred[101]
In the British Museum Library[328]
Jerrold, Douglas William (1803-57).
'A blessed companion is a Book'[12]
Johnson, Lionel (1869-1902).
Oxford Nights[366]
Johnson, Samuel (1709-84). See also Boswell.
Why Books are Read[37]
An ignorant Age hath many Books[60]
The Moons of Literature[67]
Books of Morality[108]
The Secret Influence of Books[109]
Dead Counsellors are safest[109]
Reading According to Inclination[128]
Marginal Notes and Commonplace Books[143]
Getting a Boy forward[181]
At Large in the Library[181]
Early Reading[183]
Jonson, Ben (1573 ?-1637).
To Sir Henry Goodyer[10]
To my Book[76]
Book-makers and Plagiarists[91]
To George Chapman[101]
What Shakespeare hath left us[103]
On the Portrait of Shakespeare[105]
The first Authors for Youth[180]
To my Bookseller[261]
Keats, John (1795-1821).
On First Looking into Chapman's Homer[100]
King, William (1663-1712).
A Moth[252]
A Modern Library[311]
Kingsley, Charles (1819-75).
Useful and Mighty Things[25]
Liberty and Bad Books[83]
Lamb, Charles (1775-1834).
Grace before Books[1]
A Catholic Taste in Books[17]
A Whimsical Surprise[84]
Books with One Idea in Them[121]
When and Where to Read[130]
Proof of good Matter[170]
Out-of-doors Reading[171]
Discrimination in Bindings[244]
The Treasure[254]
The Readers at the Bookstall[255]
To the Editor of The Everyday Book[269]
The Poor Student[274]
Borrowers of Books[276]
The Bodleians of Oxford[364]
Landor, Walter Savage (1775-1864).
To Wordsworth[21]
'Well I remember how you smiled'[57]
The Dead alone Canonized[66]
The Classics[67]
To Leigh Hunt[95]
Small Authors Dangerous[131]
Old-Fashioned Verse[186]
Sent with Poems[202]
Safe and untouched[312]
Law, William (1686-1761).
Classicus[66]
Poetry and Piety[209]
Leighton, Robert (1822-69).
The Libraries of Heaven[49]
Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818).
In Paternoster Row[263]
Locke, John (1632-1704).
Chewing the Cud[126]
A new Method of a Commonplace Book[141]
Lockhart, John Gibson (1794-1854).
The Bible and Burns[298]
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth (1807-82).
My Books[10]
'The sweet serenity'[20]
Bayard Taylor[234]
The Wind over the Chimney[286]
Lowe, Robert, Lord Sherbrooke (1811-92).
Remunerative Reading [39]
Lowell, James Russell (1819-91).
Security in Old Books[75]
Literature for Desolate Islands[303]
Lyly, John (1554 ?-1606).
Fashion in Books[43]
'Far more seemly were it'[304]
Lytton, Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, Baron (1803-73).
The Souls of Books[22]
The Classics always Modern[68]
The Bee and the Butterfly[143]
The Pharmacy of Books[165]
The Library an Heraclea[329]
M., J. (fl. 1627).
On the Library at Cambridge[368]
Macaulay, Thomas Babington, Lord (1800-59).
Action and Reaction[53]
The Value of Modern Books[73]
Original Editions[96]
The Critics' Influence on the Public[117]
Classical Education for Women[207]
'I would rather be a poor man'[232]
Maccreery, John (1768-1832).
Bookbindings[243]
Maginn, William (1793-1842).
The Booksellers' Banquet[271]
Mallet, David (1705 ?-65).
The Reading Coxcomb[152]
Maurice, Frederick Denison (1805-72).
The Ultimate Test of Books[53]
The Message of Books[161]
Milton, John (1608-74).
Books are not dead things[47]
'To the pure all things are pure'[83]
Plagiarie[90]
Shakespeare's livelong Monument[105]
'Deep-versed in Books and shallow in himself'[157]
Tetrachordon[256]
An Ode to Mr. John Rouse (translated by Cowper)[357]
Mitford, Mary Russell (1787-1855).
That invention of the enemy—an Abridgement[96]
Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley (1689-1762).
A cheap and lasting Pleasure[204]
Montaigne, Michael Eyquem de (1533-92).
John Florio's Translation—
The Commodity Reaped of Books[32]
Coats for Mackerel[44]
Transplantation[90]
Inductive Criticism[122]
'There's more ado to interpret interpretation'[122]
Bescribbling with Notes[139]
Skipping Wit[144]
Books an Enemy to Health[163]
Early Reading[182]
Letter-Ferrets[218]
The Author's Library[319]
Moore, Thomas (1779-1852).
'My only Books'[196]
A Counter Attraction[199]
More, Hannah (1745-1833).
A Daughter's Favourite Novels[86]
Literary Cookery[92]
More, Sir Thomas (1478-1535).
Of a New-married Student[198]
Norris, John (1657-1711).
'Reading without thinking'[142]
Norton, Caroline Elizabeth Sarah (Lady Stirling-Maxwell) (1808-77).
To my Books[8]
Norton, John Bruce (1815-83).
Merton Library[365]
Oldham, John (1653-83).
To Cosmelia[199]
Orford, Earl of. See Walpole.
Overbury, Sir Thomas (1581-1613).
Man's Prerogative[13]
Parnell, Thomas (1679-1718).
The Bookworm[250]
Parrot, Henry (fl. 1600-26).
Ad Bibliopolam[262]
Pattison, Mark (1813-84).
The Manufactory of Books[92]
Payn, James (1830-98).
The Blessed Chloroform of the Mind[168]
Peacham, Henry (1576 ?-1643 ?).
A Bookish Ambition[149]
Care as to Bindings[241]
Peacock, Thomas Love (1785-1866).
The Outside of a Book[247]
Percy, Thomas, Bishop of Dromore (1729-1811).
Why Books were Invented[37]
Petrarch (Petrarca) Francesco (1304-74).
The Delightful Society of Books[1]
Pope, Alexander (1688-1744).
Style v. Sense[114]
Where Fools Rush In[115]
Homer and Virgil[127]
Lintott's New Miscellany[267]
Cibber's Library[313]
Praed, Winthrop Mackworth (1802-39).
To Helen: written in Keble's Christian Year[201]
Prideaux, Peter (1578-1650).
On the Death of Sir Thomas Bodley[356]
Procter, Adelaide Anne (1825-64).
A Student[238]
Procter, Bryan Waller (Barry Cornwall) (1787-1874).
My Books[8]
Quarles, Francis (1572-1644).
On Buying the Bible[291]
Rabelais, François (1483-1553).
By Divine Inspiration[41]
Writing at Meal Times[171]
Richardson, Samuel (1689-1761).
Advice to Mothers[181]
Robertson, Frederick William (1816-53).
Books instead of Stimulants[165]
Rochester, Earl of. See Wilmot.
Roscoe, William Caldwell (1823-59).
To my Books on Parting with Them[9]
Roscommon, Earl of. See Dillon.
Ruskin, John (1819-1900).
Books of the Hour and of all Time[54]
Taste in Literature and Art[117]
Reading and Illiteracy[159]
Girls' Reading[208]
The Most Valuable Book[254]
National Expenditure on Books[274]
Libraries for Every City[326]
St. Albans, Viscount. See Bacon.
Saxe, John Godfrey (1816-87).
The Library[354]
Scott, Sir Walter (1771-1832).
Appetite and Satiety[147]
The Ghost of Betty Barnes[203]
The Antiquary's Treasures[231]
The Bannatyne Club[270]
Dominie Sampson in the Library[315]
Selden, John (1584-1654).
'It is good to have translations'[100]
Quotation[102]
Censorship[119]
Shakespeare, William (1564-1616).
'Who will believe my verse'[55]
'Study is like the heaven's glorious sun'[159]
'How well he's read'[162]
Books and Eyesight[164]
Reading for Love's Sake[189]
The Book of the Brain[191]
Books as Spokesmen[194]
Women's eyes[196]
'Marriage! my years are young'[198]
'The state, whereon I studied'[215]
Dainties that are Bred of a Book[219]
'Is not the leaf turned down'[240]
Gold Clasps and a Golden Story[242]
Nobler than Contents[242]
'Hark you, sir; I'll have them very fairly bound'[243]
'In Nature's infinite Book'[283]
The Secret of Strength[288]
Red Letters and Conjuring[289]
'Come, and take choice'[306]
'Of his gentleness, Knowing I loved my Books'[310]
'Me, poor man,—my library'[316]
Sheffield, John, Duke of Buckingham (1648-1721).
The Sufficiency of Homer[127]
Sherbrooke, Viscount. See Lowe.
Sheridan, Caroline Elizabeth Sarah. See Norton.
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley (1751-1816).
'Steal! to be sure they will'[91]
Lydia Languish and the Circulating Library[213]
A neat Rivulet of Text[249]
Sheridan, Thomas (1687-1738).
Our Best Acquaintance[11]
Shirley, James (1596-1666).
Sweet and Happy Hours[26]
A Book of Flesh and Blood[196]
Skelton, John (1460 ?-1529).
An Edition de luxe[241]
Smith, Alexander (1830-67).
The True Elysian Fields[11]
Power and Gladness[32]
Smith, Sydney (1771-1845).
A Short Cut to Fame[154]
'No furniture so charming as Books'[264]
South, Robert (1634-1716).
'He who has published an injurious Book'[80]
A little Book the most excellent[120]
'Much reading is like much eating'[158]
Southey, Robert (1774-1843).
My days among the Dead are passed[4]
A Heavenly Delight[5]
The Best of all Possible Company[5]
More than Meat, Drink, and Clothing[28]
A Library of Twelve[62]
Reading several Books at a time[130]
Homo Unius Libri[292]
A Colloquy in a Library[320]
Spenser, Edmund (1552 ?-99).
One day I wrote her name[56]
To his Book: of his Lady[195]
Stanhope, Philip Dormer, Earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773).
A Consolation for the Deaf[4]
Books and the World[180]
The last Editions the best[235]
'Tis folly to be wise[246]
Genteel Ornaments[273]
Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729).
Exercise for the Mind[37]
Stephen, Sir James (1789-1859).
Poets as Commentators[136]
Sterne, Laurence (1713-1768).
The Company of Mutes[3]
Mr. Shandy's Library[314]
Stevenson, Robert Louis (1850-1894).
Picture-Books in Winter[174]
Stirling-Maxwell, Lady. See Norton.
Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745).
The Battle of the Books[63]
Recipe for an Anthology[94]
Cupid and the Book of Poems[194]
A Standard for Language[296]
'I have sometimes heard'[303]
Sylvester, Josuah (1563-1618).
Surcloying the Stomach[156]
Symonds, John Addington (1840-93).
[Greek: hupothêkê eis emauton]('Back to thy books!')[197]
Taylor, John (1580-1653).
Books and Thieves[77]
To the Good or Bad Reader[150]
Fast and Loose[289]
On Coryat's Crudities[302]
Temple, Sir William (1628-99).
The Multiplication of Originals[59]
Ancient and Modern Books[63]
Books as Signposts[110]
Tennyson, Alfred, Lord (1809-92).
Poets and their Bibliographies[98]
Merlin's Book[289]
Thackeray, William Makepeace (1811-63).
Novels are Sweets[89]
'There are no race of people who talk about Books'[153]
A Kindly Tie[187]
Thomson, James (1700-48).
The Mighty Dead[161]
Thomson, Richard (1794-1865).
The Book of Life[284]
Tickle, Thomas (1686-1740).
The Hornbook[175]
Tooke, John Horne (1736-1812).
Read Few Books well[129]
Trapp, Joseph (1679-1747).
Oxford and Cambridge: an Epigram[113]
Trench, Richard Chevenix, Archbishop of Dublin (1807-86).
Books and Life[160]
Tupper, Martin Farquhar (1810-89).
Books and Friends[12]
Turner, Charles Tennyson (1808-79).
On Certain Books[82]
Vaughan, Henry (1622-95).
To his Books[13]
The Book[284]
To the Holy Bible[290]
On Sir Thomas Bodley's Library[362]
Vere, Sir Aubrey de (1788-1846).
Sacred and Profane Writers[296]
Verulam, Lord. See Bacon.
Voltaire, François Marie Arouet de (1694-1778).
Multiplication is Vexation[59]
The Seat of Authority[107]
Waller, Sir William (1597 ?-1668).
The Contentment I have in my Books[2]
Riding Post[146]
Full Libraries and Empty Heads[149]
Walpole, Horatio, Earl of Orford (1717-97).
Lounging Books[169]
Literary Upholsterers[264]
Ward, John William, Earl of Dudley (1781-1833).
A Preference for Great Models[72]
Watts, Isaac (1674-1748).
Books to be Marked[139]
Wesley, John (1703-91).
'I read only the Bible'[291]
A Man of one Book[292]
Whitelocke, Bulstrode (1605-75).
The Soul's Viaticum[368]
Whittier, John Greenleaf (1807-92).
A Magnate in the Realm of Books[7]
The Library[326]
Wilmot, John, Earl of Rochester (1647-80).
'Books bear him up awhile'[39]
Wilson, John (d. 1889).
O for a Booke[171]
Wither, George (1588-1667).
Mountebank Authors[78]
'Good God! how many dungboats'[94]
In bondage to the Bookseller[262]
Wordsworth, William (1770-1850).
Books a substantial World [21]
The Tables Turned[172]
Early Reading[184]
Young, Edward (1683-1765).
How Volumes Swell[93]
An ignorant Book-collector[219]
Notes[369]
Index of Authors mentioned in the Text and in the Notes[400]