Actaeon)
were "confiscate to the state," and he was forced to fly. This brought him
to America in no very compromising mood with royalty.

Here his fortunes appear to have been various, and he was tossed to and
fro by the battledoor of fate, until he found a snug harbor at Swallow
Barn; where, some years ago, he sat down in that quiet repose which a
worried and badgered patriot is best fitted to enjoy.

He is a good scholar, and, having confined his readings entirely to the
learning of the ancients, his republicanism is somewhat after the Grecian
mold. He has never read any politics of later date than the time of the
Emperor Constantine, not even a newspaper,--so that he may be said to have
been contemporary with AEschines rather than Lord Castlereagh--until that
eventful epoch of his life when his blazing rooftree awakened him from his
anachronistical dream. This notable interruption, however, gave him but a
feeble insight into the moderns, and he soon relapsed to Thucydides and
Livy, with some such glimmerings of the American Revolution upon his
remembrance as most readers have of the exploits of the first Brutus.

The old gentleman had a learned passion for folios. He had been a long
time urging Meriwether to make some additions to his collections of
literature, and descanted upon the value of some of the ancient authors as
foundations, both moral and physical, to the library. Frank gave way to
the argument, partly to gratify the parson, and partly from the
proposition itself having a smack that touched his fancy. The matter was
therefore committed entirely to Mr. Chub, who forthwith set out on a
voyage of exploration to the north. I believe he got as far as Boston. He
certainly contrived to execute his commission with a curious felicity.
Some famous Elzevirs were picked up, and many other antiques that nobody
but Mr. Chub would ever think of opening.

The cargo arrived at Swallow Burn in the dead of winter. During the
interval between the parson's return from his expedition and the coming of
the books, the reverend little schoolmaster was in a remarkably unquiet
state of body, which almost prevented him from sleeping: and it is said
that the sight of the long-expected treasures had the happiest effect
upon him. There was ample accommodation for this new acquisition of
ancient wisdom provided before its arrival, and Mr. Chub now spent a whole
week in arranging the volumes on their proper shelves, having, as report