hat wonder that Prout loved him, and what wonder
that we all love him? I have thirty odd editions of his works, and I
would walk farther to pick up a volume of his lyrics than I would walk
to secure any other book, excepting of course a Horace. Beranger and I
are old cronies. I have for the great master a particularly tender
feeling, and all on account of Fanchonette.

But there--you know nothing of Fanchonette, because I have not told you
of her. She, too, should have been a book instead of the dainty,
coquettish Gallic maiden that she was.

IX

BOOKSELLERS AND PRINTERS, OLD AND NEW

Judge Methuen tells me that he fears what I have said about my
bookseller will create the impression that I am unkindly disposed
toward the bookselling craft. For the last fifty years I have had
uninterrupted dealings with booksellers, and none knows better than the
booksellers themselves that I particularly admire them as a class.
Visitors to my home have noticed that upon my walls are hung noble
portraits of Caxton, Wynkin de Worde, Richard Pynson, John Wygthe,
Rayne Wolfe, John Daye, Jacob Tonson, Richard Johnes, John Dunton, and
other famous old printers and booksellers.

I have, too, a large collection of portraits of modern booksellers,
including a pen-and-ink sketch of Quaritch, a line engraving of Rimell,
and a very excellent etching of my dear friend, the late Henry
Stevens. One of the portraits is a unique, for I had it painted
myself, and I have never permitted any copy to be made of it; it is of
my bookseller, and it represents him in the garb of a fisherman,
holding his rod and reel in one hand and the copy of the "Compleat
Angler" in the other.

Mr. Curwen speaks of booksellers as being "singularly thrifty, able,
industrious, and persevering--in some few cases singularly venturesome,
liberal, and kind-hearted." My own observation and experience have
taught me that as a class booksellers are exceptionally intelligent,
ranking with printers in respect to the variety and extent of their
learning.

They have, however, this distinct advantage over the printers--they are
not brought in contact with the manifold temptations to intemperance
and profligacy which environ the votaries of the art preservative of
arts. Horace Smith has said that "were there no readers there
certainly would be no writers; clearly, therefore, the existence of
writers depends upon the existence of readers: and, of course, since
the c