to be had an
undoubted bargain, was bought by him, in the hope that, some day or
other, it might prove of service in his family. His library, if such it
may be termed, is very rich in old trade-directories, justices of peace
and registers of voters, road-books, and other useful manuals; but there
are very learned books in it too. That clean folio Herodotus was
certainly extremely cheap at half-a-crown; and you need not inform him
that the ninth book is wanting, for he will never find that out. The day
when he has discovered that any book has been bought by another person,
a better bargain than his own copy, is a black one in his calendar; but
he has a peculiar device for getting over the calamity by bringing down
the average cost of his own copy through fresh investments. Having had
the misfortune to buy a copy of Goldsmith's History of England for five
shillings, while a neighbour flaunts daily in his face a copy obtained
for three, he has been busily occupied in a search for copies still
cheaper. He has now brought down the average price of his numerous
copies of this more agreeable than accurate work to three shillings and
twopence, and hopes in another year to get below the three shillings.

Neither is the rich man who purchases fine and dear books by deputy to
be admitted within the category of the genuine book-hunter. He must hunt
himself--must actually undergo the anxiety, the fatigue, and, so far as
purse is concerned, the risks of the chase. Your rich man, known to the
trade as a great orderer of books, is like the owner of the great
game-preserve, where the sport is heavy butchery; there is none of the
real zest of the hunter of the wilderness to be had within his gates.
The old Duke of Roxburghe wisely sank his rank and his wealth, and
wandered industriously and zealously from shop to stall over the world,
just as he wandered over the moor, stalking the deer. One element in the
excitement of the poorer book-hunter he must have lacked--the feeling of
committing something of extravagance--the consciousness of parting with
that which will be missed. This is the sacrifice which assures the
world, and satisfies the man's own heart, that he is zealous and earnest
in the work he has set about. And it is decidedly this class who most
read and use the books they possess. How genial a picture does Scott
give of himself at the time of the Roxburghe sale--the creation of
Abbotsford pulling him one way, on the other his de