It may perhaps in some degree satisfy the reader’s curiosity, to be informed, that what was thus prudently guarded against by this cautious man of wealth, actually took place. In the course of the two years which immediately succeeded, a precisely similar work had silently advanced to its accomplishment, and was suddenly and unexpectedly announced. Whether this would have superseded the necessity of the other, or have claimed a larger share of public approbation, is a matter which cannot be determined.
Non existimavi me salvo jure nostræ veteris amicitiæ, multorumque inter nos officiorum, facere posse, ut honori tuo deessem.
Placet Stoicis suo quamque rem nomine appellare.
Faithful found
Among the faithless.
CHAPTER XLII.
Let us now introduce our reader to an honest Bookseller. Let it not be supposed that there exists any document among our manuscripts to intimate that it was the author’s intention to designate an honest bookseller as a non-descript bird, though perhaps to be classed among the Raræ Aves.
There are among our papers several memoranda in the highest degree honourable to many individuals of this numerous fraternity. But certainly it is not a very usual thing in any of the professions to have the epithet of “honest” so entirely hereditary, as to be allowed, not by common, but by universal consent, to descend, without any bar of bastardy, from father to son.
Our friend was much acquainted and connected with both these worthies. He highly esteemed the father, and much loved the son. Both had the common qualities of frankness, with somewhat of bluntness, and both were ready, on every occasion, to befriend and assist the followers of literature. In the immediate line of their profession, they were alike satisfied with the most reasonable advantages, and were even remarkable for the moderate prices which, in their well-stored catalogues, were fixed to the rarest and the choicest articles.