amp run low of oil or has neglected to trim the
wick.

"Peregrinantur?" Indeed, they do share our peregrinations, these
literary pursuits do. If Thomas Hearne (of blessed memory!) were alive
to-day he would tell us that he used always to take a book along with
him whenever he went walking, and was wont to read it as he strolled
along. On several occasions (as he tells us in his diary) he became so
absorbed in his reading that he missed his way and darkness came upon
him before he knew it.

I have always wondered why book-lovers have not had more to say of
Hearne, for assuredly he was as glorious a collector as ever felt the
divine fire glow within him. His character is exemplified in this
prayer, which is preserved among other papers of his in the Bodleian
Library:

"O most gracious and merciful Lord God, wonderful is Thy providence. I
return all possible thanks to Thee for the care Thou hast always taken
of me. I continually meet with most signal instances of this Thy
providence, and one act yesterday, when I unexpectedly met with three
old MSS., for which, in a particular manner, I return my thanks,
beseeching Thee to continue the same protection to me, a poor, helpless
sinner," etc.

Another prayer of Hearne's, illustrative of his faith in dependence
upon Divine counsel, was made at the time Hearne was importuned by Dr.
Bray, commissary to my Lord Bishop of London, "to go to Mary-Land" in
the character of a missionary. "O Lord God, Heavenly Father, look down
upon me with pity," cries this pious soul, "and be pleased to be my
guide, now I am importuned to leave the place where I have been
educated in the university. And of Thy great goodness I humbly desire
Thee to signify to me what is most proper for me to do in this affair."

Another famous man who made a practice of reading books as he walked
the highways was Dr. Johnson, and it is recorded that he presented a
curious spectacle indeed, for his shortsightedness compelled him to
hold the volume close to his nose, and he shuffled along, rather than
walked, stepping high over shadows and stumbling over sticks and stones.

But, perhaps, the most interesting story illustrative of the practice
of carrying one's reading around with one is that which is told of
Professor Porson, the Greek scholar. This human monument of learning
happened to be travelling in the same coach with a coxcomb who sought
to air his pretended learning by quotations from the ancien