e eyes of
the bibliophile this will amply compensate for his minor imperfections.
When expatiating on the value of his books he appears to unbosom, as it
were, all the inward rapture of love. A very _helluo librorum_--a very
Maliabechi of a collector, yet he encouraged no selfish feeling to alloy
his pleasure or to mingle bitterness with the sweets of his avocation.
His knowledge he freely imparted to others, and his books he gladly lent.
This is apparent in the Philobiblon; and his generous spirit warms his
diction--not always chaste--into a fluent eloquence. His composition
overflows with figurative expressions, yet the rude, ungainly form on
which they are moulded deprive them of all claim to elegance or
chastity; but while the homeliness of his diction fails to impress us
with an idea of his versatility as a writer, his chatty anecdotal style
rivets and keeps the mind amused, so that we rise from the little book
with the consciousness of having obtained much profit and satisfaction
from its perusal. Nor is it only the bibliomaniac who may hope to taste
this pleasure in devouring the sweet contents of the Philobiblon; for
there are many hints, many wise sayings, and many singular ideas
scattered over its pages, which will amuse or instruct the general reader
and the lover of olden literature. We observe too that Richard de Bury,
as a writer, was far in advance of his age, and his work manifests an
unusual freedom and independence of mind in its author; for although
living in monkish days, when the ecclesiastics were almost supreme in
power and wealth, he was fully sensible of the vile corruptions and
abominations which were spreading about that time so fearfully among some
of the cloistered devotees--the spotless purity of the primitive times
was scarce known then--and the dark periods of the middle ages were
bright and holy, when compared with the looseness and carnality of those
turbulent days. Richard de Bury dipped his pen in gall when he spoke of
these sad things, and doubtless many a revelling monk winced under the
lashing words he applied to them; not only does he upbraid them for their
carelessness in religion, but severely reprimands their inattention to
literature and learning. "The monks," he says, "in the present day seem
to be occupied in emptying cups, not in correcting codices, _Calicibus
epotandis, non codicibus emendandis_, which they mingle with the
lascivious music of Timotheus, and emulate his immod