Fanshawe, 1655; Cowley's Works, 1674; Shelton's
Don Quixote; Raleigh's History of the World, 1614; Bulwer's Artificial
Changeling, 1653; Verstegan's Antiquities, 1634; Hartlib's Legacie, 1651;
Sir K. Digby on the Nature of Bodies, 1645; Warton's History of English
Poetry, 1774; Encyclopedie, 25 vols., 1770; Fielding's Works, 12 vols.,
1766; Bysshe's Art of Poetry; Hawkins's Origin of the English Drama, 3
vols., 1773; Percy's Reliques, 3 vols., Dublin, 1766; Sir William
Temple's Works; and De Bure, Bibliographie Instructive.

A catalogue such as this, made within a few weeks of the death of the
owner, cannot but have great interest for us. The library could not have
been a very choice one, for there is little notice of bindings and much
mention of odd volumes. It was evidently a working collection, containing
the works of the poets Goldsmith loved, and of the naturalists from whom
he stole his knowledge.

Gibbon was a true collector, who loved his books, and he must have needed
them greatly, working as he did at Lausanne away from public libraries.
After his death the library was purchased by 'Vathek' Beckford, but he
kept it buried, and it was of no use to any one. Eventually it was sold by
auction, a portion being bought for the Canton, and another portion going
to America. There was little in the man Gibbon to be enthusiastic about,
but it is impossible for any true book lover not to delight in the
thoroughness of the author of one of the noblest books ever written. The
fine old house where the _Decline and Fall_ was written and the noble
library was stored still stands, and the traveller may stroll in the
garden so beautifully described by Gibbon when he walked to the historical
_berceau_ and felt that his herculean labour was completed. His heart must
be preternaturally dull which does not beat quicker as he walks on that
ground. The thought of a visit some years ago forms one of the most vivid
of the author's pleasures of memory.

Charles Burney, the Greek scholar, is said to have expended nearly L25,000
on his library, which consisted of more than 13,000 printed volumes and a
fine collection of MSS. The library was purchased for the British Museum
for the sum of L13,500.

Charles Burney probably inherited his love of collecting from his father,
for Dr. Burney possessed some twenty thousand volumes. These were rather
an incumbrance to the Doctor, and when he moved to Chelsea Hospital, he
was in some difficulty