[450] A singular story is "extant" about the purchase of the late Duke of Roxburgh's copy of the first edition of Shakspeare. A friend was bidding for him in the sale-room: his Grace had retired to one end of the room, coolly to view the issue of the contest. The biddings rose quickly to 20 guineas; a great sum in former times: but the Duke was not to be daunted or defeated. A slip of paper was handed to him, upon which the propriety of continuing the contest was suggested. His Grace took out his pencil; and, with a coolness which would have done credit to Prince Eugene, he wrote on the same slip of paper, by way of reply—
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lay on Macduff! And d——d be he who first cries "Hold, enough!" |
Such a spirit was irresistible, and bore down all opposition. The Duke was of course declared victor, and he marched off, triumphantly, with the volume under his arm. Lord Spencer has a fine copy of this first edition of Shakspeare, collated by Steevens himself.
[451] We raise the column to the hero who has fought our battles by sea or land; and we teach our children to look up with admiration and reverence towards an object so well calculated to excite the best sympathies of the human heart. All this is well; and may it never be neglected! But there are other characters not less noble, and of equal glory to a great nation like our own; and they are those who, to the adventitious splendour of hereditary rank, add all the worth and talent of a private condition, less exposed to temptation, and suited to the cultivation of peaceful and literary pursuits. Such a character is George John Earl Spencer! A nobleman, not less upright and weighty in the senate than polished and amiable in private life; who, cool and respected amidst the violence of party, has filled two of the most important offices of state in a manner at once popular and effective; and who, to his general love of the fine arts, and acquaintance with classical literature, has superadded the noble achievement of having collected the finest private library in Europe! The reader has already met with sufficient mention of this collection to justify what is here said in commendation of it.... In the deepest recess of Althorpe Park—where the larch and laurustinus throw their dark yet pleasing shade—and where
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——pinus ingens, albaque populus Umbram hospitalem consociare amant Ramis— |
let the Doric Temple be raised, with its white-marbled columns, sacred to the memory of this illustrious nobleman! Let his bust, in basso-relievo, with appropriate embellishments, adorn the most conspicuous compartment within: and peace and virtue, and filial affection, will, I am sure, be the guardians of so cherished a spot!
ARMS OF EARL SPENCER.
It must not, however, be forgotten that, if first editions are, in some instances, of great importance, they are in many respects superfluous, and only incumber the shelves of a collector; inasmuch as the labours of subsequent editors have corrected the errors of their predecessors, and superseded, by a great fund of additional matter, the necessity of consulting them. Thus, not to mention other instances (which present themselves while noticing the present one), all the fine things which Colomiés and Reimannus have said about the rarity of La Croix du Maine's Bibliothéque, published in 1584, are now unnecessary to be attended to, since the publication of the ample and excellent edition of this work by De La Monnoye and Juvigny, in six quarto volumes, 1772.
Lis. Upon the whole, I should prefer the best to the first edition; and you, Lorenzo, may revel in the possession of your first Shakespeare—but give me the last Variorum edition in twenty-one volumes.