ng, Louis
the fifteenth. It was odd enough to see such a work in such a sale!

PHIL. You did not probably bid ten guineas for it, Lisardo?

LIS. Not ten shillings. What should I do with such books? You know I
have a mortal aversion to them, and to every thing connected with
bibliographical learning.

PHIL. That arises, I presume, from your profound knowledge of the
subject; and, hence, finding it, as Solomon found most pursuits,
"vanity of vanities, and vexation of spirit."

LIS. Not so, truly! I have taken an aversion to it from mere whim and
fancy: or rather from downright ignorance.

PHIL. But I suppose you would not object to be set right upon any
subject of which you are ignorant or misinformed? You don't mean to
sport _hereditary_ aversions, or hereditary attachments?

LIS. Why, perhaps, something of the kind. My father, who was the best
creature upon earth, happened to come into the possession of a huge
heap of catalogues of private collections, as well as of booksellers'
books--and I remember, on a certain fifth of November, when my little
hands could scarcely grasp the lamplighter's link that he bade me set
fire to them, and shout forth--"Long live the King!"--ever since I
have held them in sovereign contempt.

PHIL. I love the king too well to suppose that his life could have
been lengthened by any such barbarous act. You were absolutely a
little Chi Ho-am-ti, or Omar![98] Perhaps you were not aware that his
majesty is in possession of many valuable books, which are described
with great care and accuracy in some of these very catalogues.

[Footnote 98: Pope, in his Dunciad, has treated the
conflagration of the two great ancient libraries, with his
usual poetical skill:

"Far eastward cast thine eye, from whence the sun
And orient Science their bright course begun:
One god-like monarch all that pride confounds,
He, whose long wall the wandering Tartar bounds;
Heavens! what a pile! whole ages perish there,
And one bright blaze turns Learning into air.
Thence to the south extend thy gladden'd eyes;
There rival flames with equal glory rise,
From shelves to shelves see greedy Vulcan roll,
And lick up all their PHYSIC OF THE SOUL."

"Chi Ho-am-ti, Emperor of China, the same who built the
great wall between China and Tartary, destroyed all the
books and learned men of that