the late Sir Curtis Miranda Lampson,
Bart., of Rowfant, Sussex. On the death of his father-in-law in 1885 he
added the name of Lampson to his own. He died at Rowfant on May the
30th, 1895.

[Illustration: ONE OF MR. LOCKER-LAMPSON'S BOOK-PLATES.]

Mr. Locker-Lampson tells us in his interesting autobiography entitled
_My Confidences_, that he first collected pictures and rare sixteenth
century engravings, but collectors with long purses outbid him, so he
turned to old books: 'little volumes of poetry and the drama from about
1590 to 1610.' These formed the nucleus of his collection, which soon
grew wide enough to include Caxtons and the works of the poets of the
last century. Rare editions of Sidney, Spenser, Churchyard, Middleton,
Herbert, Herrick, Dekker, Chapman, and many other writers of the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, are to be found in it, and
Shakespeare is splendidly represented by a perfect copy of the first
folio, the first editions of _Lucrece_, the _Sonnets_ and the _Poems_,
and a large number--some thirty in all--of the quarto plays, many of
which are the original editions. Mr. Locker-Lampson's folio wanted Ben
Jonson's verses, and he gives an amusing account in _My Confidences_ of
an unsuccessful attempt to purchase a copy of them from a Mr. Dene, who
possessed an imperfect first folio. He ultimately bought the precious
leaf, which had been pasted in a scrap-book, for one hundred pounds, and
so completed his copy. The library is also very rich in first editions
of Byron, Tennyson, Browning, and other English poets of recent times,
many of the volumes containing autograph inscriptions to Mr.
Locker-Lampson himself. Mr. Locker-Lampson placed his library, together
with his collections of autograph letters, pictures and drawings, in his
residence at Rowfant, the beautiful home which he and his wife
inherited from the lady's father; and a handsome catalogue of them
published in 1886 by Mr. Quaritch, with an introduction by their owner,
tells us of the treasures they contain. An etched portrait of Mr.
Locker-Lampson and a sketch of his study are inserted in the volume, and
Mr. Andrew Lang has prefixed some charming lines descriptive of the
library:--

'The Rowfant books, how fair they show,
The Quarto quaint, the Aldine tall;
Print, autograph, Portfolio!
Back from the outer air they call
The athletes from the Tennis ball,
The Rhymer from his rod and hooks;
Would I could sing th