de Principes y
Cavalleros_); editions of Hakluyt's _Voyages_; a beautiful and tall copy
of _Purchas his Pilgrimes_; the finest and most complete set which has
been formed of De Bry's _Voyages_; the first issue of Milton's _Paradise
Lost_; the first edition of Walton's _Compleat Angler_ in the original
sheepskin binding; the Kilmarnock edition of Burns's _Poems_; and
several of the original editions of Shelley's works, including the
excessively rare _OEdipus Tyrannus_. There is a fine collection of
early English music in the Britwell Library, and it possesses the
greater portion of the Heber ballads and broadsides, and a large number
of books which once belonged to De Thou. Many of the volumes are
masterpieces of the work of Bedford, Riviere, Lortic, and other English
and foreign binders.

GEORGE DANIEL, 1789-1864

George Daniel was born in London on the 16th of September 1789. After
receiving an education at Mr. Thomas Hogg's boarding-school at
Paddington Green, he became a clerk to a stockbroker in Tokenhouse
Yard,[93] and afterwards followed the profession of an accountant; but
he employed all his leisure time in literary pursuits, and in the
collection of books, works of art and curiosities. He commenced writing
at a very early age, and was the author of a novel _The Adventures of
Dick Distich_, and a considerable number of poetical and dramatic
pieces. He also contributed many articles to _Ackerman's Poetical
Magazine_, _Bentley's Miscellany_, and other magazines, and was the
editor of Cumberland's _British Theatre_, and Cumberland's _Minor
Theatre_. His first printed production, _Stanzas on Lord Nelsons Victory
and Death_, written in conjunction with a young friend, appeared in
1805, but he tells us that he wrote some verses when he was but eight
years of age on the death of his father. In 1811 he published a poem
called _The Times, or the Prophecy_, and in 1812 a poetical squib
founded on the reputed horse-whipping of the Prince of Wales by Lord
Yarmouth, entitled _R-y-l Stripes; or, a Kick from Yar--th to Wa--s_,
for the suppression of which a large sum was paid by the Prince Regent.
In the same year appeared _The Adventures of Dick Distich_ in three
volumes, which was written by the author before he was eighteen, and a
volume of _Miscellaneous Poems_; and in 1814 _The Modern Dunciad_, in
which he sings the praises of 'old books, old wines, old customs, and
old friends.' He continued to write during th