from 10_l_. to 30_l_. a piece. The first printed one was
the Vulgate edition of the Bible, 1462; the second was _Cicero de
Officiis_, 1466. Leo I. ordered 200,000 to be burnt at Constantinople.
In the suppressed monasteries of France, in 1790, there were found
4,104,412 volumes; nearly one-half were on theology. The end of the
book, now denoted by _finis_, was anciently marked with a <, called
_coronis_, and the whole frequently washed with an oil drawn from
cedar, or citron chips strewed between the leaves, to preserve it from
rotting.

Thus far books; now for the _bookworms_. Anthony Magliabecchi, the
notorious bookworm, was born at Florence in 1633; his passion for
reading induced him to employ every moment of his time in improving
his mind. By means of an astonishing memory and incessant application,
he became more conversant with literary history than any man of his
time, and was appointed librarian to the grand duke of Tuscany. He has
been called a living library. He was a man of a most forbidding and
savage aspect, and exceedingly negligent of his person. He refused to
be waited upon, and rarely took off his clothes to go to bed. His
dinner was commonly three hard eggs, with a draught of water. He had a
small window in his door, through which he could see all those who
approached him; and if he did not wish for their company, he would not
admit them. He spent some hours in each day at the palace library; but
is said never in his life to have gone farther from Florence than to
Pratz, whither he once accompanied Cardinal Norris to see a
manuscript. He died at the age of 81, in the year 1714. In the present
age we have _bookworms_, who wander from one bookstall to another, and
there devour their daily store of knowledge. Others will linger at the
tempting window filled with the "_twopenny_," and read all the open
pages; then pass on to another of the same description, and thus enjoy
literature by the way of _Cheapside_.

P.T.W.

* * * * *

MIDNIGHT--A TOUCH AT THE EPIC.

(_For the Mirror_.)

"The iron tongue of midnight hath toll'd twelve."
SHAKSPEARE.

Amid the pauses of the midnight storm,
When all without is cold, within all warm!
Amid the pauses of the midnight blast,
When ev'ry bolt and ev'ry sleeper's fast!
In that dire hour, when graves give up their dead,
And men for once agree in their pursuit--a bed!
When heroes, statesmen, senators, and king