t, science, art,
To every ear and eye impart.

His books, therefore, are not a stagnant reservoir of unprofitable
water, as are those of PONTEVALLO'S; but like a thousand rills, which
run down from the lake on Snowdon's summit, after a plentiful fall of
rain, they serve to fertilize and adorn every thing to which they
extend. In consequence, he sees himself reflected in a thousand
mirrors: and has a right to be vain of the numerous dedications to
him, and of the richly ornamented robes in which he is attired by his
grateful friends."

LIS. Long life to Atticus, and to all such book heroes! Now pray
inform me who is yonder gentleman, of majestic mien and shape?--and
who strikes a stranger with as much interest as Agamemnon did
Priam--when the Grecian troops passed at a distance in order of
review, while the Trojan monarch and Helen were gossipping with each
other on the battlements of Troy!

"That gentleman, Lisardo, is HORTENSIUS; who, you see is in close
conversation with an intimate friend and fellow-bibliomaniac--that
ycleped is ULPIAN. They are both honourable members of an honourable
profession; and although they have formerly sworn to purchase no old
book but Machlinia's first edition of Littleton's Tenures, yet they
cannot resist, now and then, the delicious impulse of becoming masters
of a black-letter chronicle or romance. Taste and talent of various
kind they both possess; and 'tis truly pleasant to see gentlemen and
scholars, engaged in a laborious profession, in which, comparatively,
'little vegetation quickens, and few salutary plants take root,'
finding 'a pleasant grove for their wits to walk in' amidst rows of
beautifully bound, and intrinsically precious, volumes. They feel it
delectable, 'from the loop-holes of such a retreat,' to peep at the
multifarious pursuits of their brethren; and while they discover some
busied in a perversion of book-taste, and others preferring the
short-lived pleasures of sensual gratifications--which must 'not be
named' among good bibliomaniacs--they can sit comfortably by their
fire-sides; and, pointing to a well-furnished library, say to their
wives--who heartily sympathize in the sentiment--

This gives us health, or adds to life a day!"[206]

[Footnote 206: Braithwaite's _Arcadian Princesse_: lib. 4,
p. 15, edit. 1635. The two immediately following verses,
which are worthy of Dryden, may quietly creep in here:

Or helps decayed