providence is mine
inheritance.

Elizabeth Pindar me jure
possidet.

Anno Dom.
1608]

The list is a quaint bit of Addisonian satire, almost worthy to rank by
the side of Sir Roger de Coverley. Addison had no very elevated opinion
of the intellectual gifts of his women contemporaries, as the
juxtaposition of the Prayer-book with the bottle of Hungary waters (a
popular stimulating perfume of the day) shows. The books above named
were at that time to be found in nearly every gentleman's library, and
that they should be found in the possession of women is not surprising.
Addison's 'intellectual lady' and her library are a fiction, but a
charming fiction withal. In spite of the literary glories of her reign,
'Glorious Anna' can scarcely be regarded as a book-collector. Queen
Caroline, the consort of George II., was an enthusiastic bibliophile.
Her library was preserved until recently in a building adjoining the
Green Park, called the Queen's Library, and subsequently the Duke of
York's. An interior view of the building is given in Pyne's 'Royal
Residences.' We give on page 267 a reproduction of one of the earliest
English bookplates engraved for a lady. It was discovered a few years
ago in a volume of title-pages collected by John Bagford, and now in the
British Museum. Of Elizabeth Pindar as a book-collector, or, indeed, as
anything else, we are without any record.

[Illustration: _The Eshton Hall Library._]

The present century has produced two of the most distinguished _femmes
bibliophiles_ which this country has ever known. The earlier collector,
Miss Richardson Currer (1785-1861), of Eshton Hall, in the Deanery of
Craven, York, was the owner of an exceedingly rich library of books. Of
these, two catalogues were printed. The first, in 1820, under the
superintendence of Robert Triphook, extended to 308 pages; the second
was drawn up by C. J. Stewart in 1833. That of the latter included four
steel engravings of her library. This library was especially strong in
British history, and it included a copy on vellum of the St. Albans
reprint of Caxton's 'Chronicle' (wanting only the last leaf), which
realized L365 at her sale; of Higden's 'Polychronicon,' printed by
Caxton, 1482 (not quite perfect); one of the most perfect copies of
Coverdale's Bible, 1535, which sold for L250; of Norden's 'Voyage
d'Egypte,' on large paper, and many other fine books. It was also rich
in natural science, topog