15. Trade and Commerce.
About 300 volumes.
It will be seen from the preceding divisions, and from the gradual diminution of the number of volumes in each, that I have gone through the principal departments of the Harleian collection of books: and yet there remain fifty departments to be enumerated! These are the following: 16. Critici et Opera collecta. 17. Vultus et Imagines Illust. Virorum. 18. Pompæ, Ceremoniæ, et Exequiæ. 19. De re Militari, de Arte Equestri, et de re Navali. 20. Heraldica. 21. Epistolæ, Panegyrici, et Orationes. 22. Bibliothecarii et Miscellanei. 23. Tractatus Pacis et Politici. 24. Traductions des Auteurs Gr. et Latin. 25. Translations from Greek and Latin Authors. 26. Laws, Customs, &c., of the City of London. 27. Military, Naval affairs, and Horsemanship. 28. Heraldry. 9. Husbandry, Gardening, Agriculture. 30. Magic, Sorcery, Witchcraft. 31. Miraculous, Monstrous, and Supernatural. 32. Lives of Eminent Persons. 33. Laws and Customs of divers Places. 34. Tythes, Sacrilege, and Non-residence, &c. 35. Cases of divers Persons. 36. Prisons and Prisoners. 37. Lives of Murderers, Highwaymen, Pirates, &c. 38. Speeches of Persons executed for divers Offences. 39. Justices, Juries, and Charges. 40. Poor, and Charitable Uses. 41. Matrimony, Divorce, &c. 42. Universities. 43. Allegiance, Supremacy, Non Resistance, &c. 44. Bank and Bankers. 45. Funds, Taxes, Public Credit, Money, Coin, &c. 46. War and Standing Armies. 47. Admiralty and Navy. 48. Letters on various Subjects. 49. Treatises of Peace, Royal Prerogative, &c. 50. Navigation. 51. Education, Grammar and Schools. 52. Ludicrous, Entertaining, Satirical, and Witty. 53. English Miscellanies. 54. Ecclesiastical and Civil History of Scotland. 55. Do. of Ireland. 56. Grammars and Dictionnaries. 57. Plays, and relating to the Theatre. 58. Mathematics. 59. Astrology, Astronomy, and Chymistry. 60. Horsemanship. 61. Cookery. 62. Convocation. 63. Sieges, Battles, War, &c. 64. Pomp and Ceremony. 65. Books relating to Writing and Printing. 66. Essays on various Subjects. It will probably be no very unreasonable computation to allow to each of these remaining divisions 80 volumes: so that multiplying the whole 50 divisions by 80 there will be the additional number of 4000 volumes to make the library complete. I ought to mention that, in my account of this extensive library, I have not included the Pamphlets. Of these alone, according to Mr. Gough (Brit. Topog. v., i., 669), there were computed to be 400,000! We will now say a few words about the private character of Lord Oxford, and conclude with a brief account of Osborne. Every body has heard of the intimacy which subsisted between Pope and the Earl of Oxford. In the year 1721, when the latter was at his country seat, Pope sent him a copy of Parnell's poems (of which he had undertaken the publication on the decease of Parnell), with a letter in poetry and prose. It seems that Pope wished to prefix his own verses to the collection; and thus alludes to them, in his letter to Lord Harley of the date of 1721: "Poor Parnell, before he died, left me the charge of publishing those few remains of his: I have a strong desire to make them, their author, and their publisher, more considerable, by addressing and dedicating them all to you, &c. All I shall say for it is that 'tis the only dedication I ever writ, and shall be the only one, whether you accept it or not: for I will not bow the knee to a less man than my Lord Oxford, and I expect to see no greater in my time."
The following is the latter part of the Poetical Epistle here alluded to:
|
And sure, if aught below the seats divine Can touch immortals, 'tis a soul like thine: A soul supreme, in each hard instance tried, Above all pain, all passion, and all pride; The rage of power, the blast of public breath, The lust of lucre, and the dread of death. In vain to deserts thy retreat is made; The muse attends thee to thy silent shade: 'Tis her's the brave man's latest steps to trace, Rejudge his acts, and dignify disgrace. When int'rest calls off all her sneaking train, And all th' obliged desert, and all the vain; She waits, or to the scaffold, or the cell, When the last lingering friend has bid farewell. Ev'n now, she shades thy evening walk with bays, (No hireling she, no prostitute of praise) Ev'n now, observant of the parting ray, Eyes the calm sun-set of thy various day; Thro' fortune's cloud one truly great can see, Nor fears to tell that Mortimer is he! Pope's Works, vol. ii., p. 320-3. Bowles's edit. |
The following was the reply of the Earl of Oxford to Mr. Pope.
Sir,
I received your packet, which could not but give me great pleasure to see you preserve an old friend in your memory; for it must needs be very agreeable to be remembered by those we highly value. But then, how much shame did it cause me when I read your very fine verses inclosed! My mind reproached me how far short I came of what your great friendship and delicate pen would partially describe me. You ask my consent to publish it: to what straits doth this reduce me! I look back, indeed, to those evenings I have usefully and pleasantly spent with Mr. Pope, Mr. Parnell, Dean Swift, the Doctor (Arbuthnot), &c. I should be glad the world knew you admitted me to your friendship; and since your affection is too hard for your judgment, I am contented to let the world know how well Mr. Pope can write upon a barren subject. I return you an exact copy of the verses, that I may keep the original, as a testimony of the only error you have been guilty of. I hope, very speedily, to embrace you in London, and to assure you of the particular esteem and friendship wherewith I am your, &c.,
Oxford.
Of Tom Osborne I have in vain endeavoured to collect some interesting biographical details. What I know of him shall be briefly stated. He was the most celebrated bookseller of his day; and appears, from a series of his catalogues in my possession, to have carried on a successful trade from the year 1738 to 1768. What fortune he amassed, is not, I believe, very well known: his collections were truly valuable, for they consisted of the purchased libraries of the most eminent men of those times. In his stature he was short and thick; and, to his inferiors, generally spoke in an authoritative and insolent manner. "It has been confidently related," says Boswell, "that Johnson, one day, knocked Osborne down in his shop with a folio, and put his foot upon his neck. The simple truth I had from Johnson himself. 'Sir, he was impertinent to me, and I beat him. But it was not in his shop: it was in my own chamber.'" 4to. edit., i., 81. Of Osborne's philological attainments, the meanest opinion must be formed, if we judge from his advertisements, which were sometimes inserted in the London Gazette, and drawn up in the most ridiculously vain and ostentatious style. He used to tell the public that he possessed "all the pompous editions of Classicks and Lexicons." I insert the two following advertisements, prefixed, the one to his catalogue of 1748, the other to that of 1753, for the amusement of my bibliographical readers, and as a model for Messrs. Payne, White, Miller, Evans, Priestley, and Cuthell. "This catalogue being very large, and of consequence very expensive to the proprietor, he humbly requests that, if it falls into the hands of any gentleman gratis, who chooses not himself to be a purchaser of any of the books contained in it, that such gentleman will be pleased to recommend it to any other whom he thinks may be so, or to return it." To his catalogue of 1753 was the following: "To the Nobility and Gentry who please to favour me with their commands. It is hoped, as I intend to give no offence to any nobleman or gentleman, that do me the honour of being my customer, by putting a price on my catalogue, by which means they may not receive it as usual—it is desired that such nobleman or gentleman as have not received it, would be pleased to send for it; and it's likewise requested of such gentleman who do receive it, that, if they chuse not to purchase any of the books themselves, they would recommend it to any bookish gentleman of their acquaintance, or to return it, and the favour shall be acknowledged by, their most obedient and obliged,