ation of these books, charred almost beyond
recognition; they were carefully separated leaf by leaf, soaked in a
chemical solution, and then pressed flat between sheets of transparent
paper. A curious heap of scorched leaves, previous to any treatment, and
looking like a monster wasps' nest, may be seen in a glass case in the
MS. department of the British Museum, showing the condition to which
many other volumes had been reduced.

Just a hundred years ago the mob, in the "Birmingham Riots," burnt the
valuable library of Dr. Priestley, and in the "Gordon Riots" were burnt
the literary and other collections of Lord Mansfield, the celebrated
judge, he who had the courage first to decide that the Slave who reached
the English shore was thenceforward a free man. The loss of the latter
library drew from the poet Cowper two short and weak poems. The poet
first deplores the destruction of the valuable printed books, and then
the irretrievable loss to history by the burning of his Lordship's many
personal manuscripts and contemporary documents.

"Their pages mangled, burnt and torn,
The loss was his alone;
But ages yet to come shall mourn
The burning of his own."

The second poem commences with the following doggerel:--

"When Wit and Genius meet their doom
In all-devouring Flame,
They tell us of the Fate of Rome
And bid us fear the same."

The much finer and more extensive library of Dr. Priestley was left
unnoticed and unlamented by the orthodox poet, who probably felt a
complacent satisfaction at the destruction of heterodox books, the owner
being an Unitarian Minister.

The magnificent library of Strasbourg was burnt by the shells of the
German Army in 1870. Then disappeared for ever, together with other
unique documents, the original records of the famous law-suits between
Gutenberg, one of the first Printers, and his partners, upon the right
understanding of which depends the claim of Gutenberg to the invention
of the Art. The flames raged between high brick walls, roaring louder
than a blast furnace. Seldom, indeed, have Mars and Pluto had so dainty
a sacrifice offered at their shrines; for over all the din of battle,
and the reverberation of monster artillery, the burning leaves of the
first printed Bible and many another priceless volume were wafted into
the sky, the ashes floating for miles on the heated air, and carrying
to the astonished cou