d pot--on which was
inscribed "_Moutarde Fine de Nageon, a Dijon_--" placed at the feet of a
statue of the Virgin as a sacred deposit!

On leaving the church, I visited two booksellers: one of them rather
distinguished for his collection of _Alduses_--as I was informed. I found
him very chatty, very civil, but not very reasonable in his prices. He told
me that he had plenty of old books--_Alduses_ and _Elzevirs, &c_.--with
lapping-over vellum-bindings. I desired nothing better; and followed him up
stairs. Drawer after drawer was pulled out. These M. Renouard had seen:
those the Comte d'Ourches had wished to purchase; and a third pile was
destined for some nobleman in the neighbourhood. There was absolutely
nothing in the shape of temptation--except a _Greek Herodian_, by Theodore
Martin of Louvain, and a droll and rather rare little duodecimo volume,
printed at Amsterdam in 1658, entitled _La Comedie de Proverbes_. The next
bookseller I visited, was a printer. "Had he any thing old and curious?" He
replied, with a sort of triumphant chuckle, that he "once had _such_ a
treasure of this kind!" "What might it have been?" "A superb missal--for
which a goldsmith had offered him twelve sous for each initial letter upon
a gold ground--but which he had parted with, for 100 francs, to the library
of a Benedictin monastery--now destroyed. It had cost him twelve sous."
"But see, Sir, (continued he) is not this curious?" "It is a mere reprint,
(replied I) of what was first published three hundred years ago." "No
matter--buy it, and read it--it will amuse you--and it costs only five
sous." I purchased two copies, and I send you here the title and the
frontispiece. "_Le Dragon Rouge, ou l'art de commander les Esprits
Celestes, Aeriens, Terrestres, Infernaux. Avec le vrai Secret de faire
parler les Morts; de gagner toutes les fois qu'on met aux Lotteries; de
decouvrir les Tresors," &c_.

[Illustration]

The bookseller told me that he regularly sold hundreds of copies of this
work, and that the country people yet believed in the efficacy of its
contents! I had been told that it was in this very town that a copy of _the
Mazarine Bible_ had been picked up for some _half_ _dozen francs!_--and
conveyed to the public library at Munich.

Towards the evening, I visited the public library by appointment. Indeed I
had casually met the public librarian at the first Bouquiniste's: and he
fixed the hour of half-past six. I was punctual almost t