, the Platonic
romances, Townley's French _Hudibras_, and a hundred--a thousand--ten
thousand more. It is thought to be worth while to have a few of these
deposed idols to show to your friends when they visit you, that they
may join in a homily on changes of taste. Perhaps it would suffice to
compare notes through the medium of some _Censura Literaria_, or
Beloe, or Collier. With most people space is a consideration, with a
few, money; and an incidental and passing reflection need not be so
costly in either way. For that reason such works as I have indicated,
and a few others similar to them, are apt to prove serviceable and
economical.

The periodical reinforcement of the ranks of the book-collecting
world, in the higher latitudes at least, is obviously imperative, as
individuals do not usually commence investments of such a kind till
they are well on in life and have put by a fortune, or at all events
retired from business. Some purely accidental matter directs attention
to a line of bibliography which appears attractive and important; the
money is there, and the expert will undertake the rest. It is not the
interest of those engaged in the business to be critical; they are
merely executive agents. But the demand for the costlier rarities and
curiosities is so narrow, that the fresh aspirant is soon the central
object of attention to the few who can provide him with what he
imagines he wants. As a rule, where a man has no personal knowledge,
and finds that he is gradually becoming a milch-cow for the trade, the
hobby is not of long duration; it is only where the buyer can control
and check the vendor that satisfactory relations are likely to
continue, perhaps for years, perhaps for a lifetime. There is ever a
tendency, on the part of the bookish commissariat, to strike the iron
too hard.

It does happen here and there that collectors are enabled to make
their own prices for their acquisitions either by extraordinary
reputation for judgment and by virtue of a well-known name, or by the
fact of being carried by our common lot beyond earshot of their good
fortune, or, once more, by the force of peculiar circumstances. As an
almost inexorable rule, the stocks of dealers are coldly regarded, and
even those of William Pickering and Joseph Lilly were allowed to drop,
so that, in the latter instance more particularly, some real bargains
were obtained. Yet, on the contrary, the books thrown on the market
after the retiremen