res
de la meme Biblotheque, par Nyon l'aine._ Paris, 1797, 8vo.
This volume presents us with the relics of a collection
which, in its day, might have vied with the most splendid in
Europe. But every thing earthly must be
dissipated.----LANCELOT. _Catalogue des Livres de feu M.
Lancelot de l'Academie Royale des Belles Lettres._ Paris,
1741, 8vo. Those who are fond of making their libraries rich
in French History cannot dispense with this truly valuable
catalogue. Lancelot, like the elder Lamoignon, appears to
have been "buried in the benedictions of his
countrymen"--according to the energetic language of
Bourdaloue.----LEMARIE. _Catalogue des livres de feu M.
Lemarie, dispose et mis en ordre, par Guil. De Bure, fils
aine_, Paris, 1776, 8vo. A well digested catalogue of a rich
collection of Greek and Latin Literature, which evinces a
man of taste and judgment. Nothing can be more handsomely
said of a collection than what De Bure has prefixed to the
present one. In the _Cat. de Gouttard_, no. 1545, I find
a copy of it upon LARGE PAPER.----LOMENIE. _Index Librorum
ab inventa Typographia da annum 1500, &c., cum notis, &c._
Senonis, 1791, 8vo., two vols. The owner of this collection,
whose name does not appear in the title-page, was the
celebrated Cardinal DE LOMENIE DE BRIENNE: who is described,
in the advertisement prefixed to the catalogue of his books
in 1797, [vide infra] as having, from almost early youth,
pushed his love of book-collecting to an excess hardly
equalled by any of his predecessors. When he was but a young
ecclesiastic, and had only the expectation of a fortune, his
ruling passion for books, and his attachment to fellow
bibliomaniacs, was ardent and general. But let his
panegyrist speak in his own language--"Si le hazard
procuroit a ses amis quelque objet precieux, il n'avoit de
repos qu'apres l'avoir obtenu; les sacrifices ne
l'effrayoient pas; il etoit ne genereaux; mais ce qu'on lui
accordoit, il le devoit sur-tout a ses manieres insinuantes.
Ses sollicitations etoient toujours assaisonnees d'un ton
d'amabilite auquel on resistoit difficilement. Lorsque le
tems et les graces de la cour eurent aggrandi ses moyens,
ses veus s'etendirent a proportion. Insensiblement il
embressa tous les genres, et sa biblio