CATULLUS TO HIS BOOK.

Through and through the inspired leaves,Ye maggots, make your windings;But oh, respect his lordship's taste,And spare the golden bindings.

QVOI DONO LEPIDVM NOVVM LIBELLVM.

Caius Valerius Catullus.Translated by A. Lang expresslyfor this collection.

My little book, that's neat and new,Fresh polished with dry pumice stone,To whom, Cornelius, but to you,Shallthisbe sent, for you alone—(Who used to praise my lines, my own)—Have dared, in weighty volumes three,(What labors, Jove, what learning thine!)To tell the Tale of Italy,And all the legend of our line.So take, whate'er its worth may be,My Book,—but Lady and Queen of Song,This one kind gift I crave of thee,That it may live for ages long!

So take, whate'er its worth may be,My Book,—but Lady and Queen of Song,This one kind gift I crave of thee,That it may live for ages long!

TO J. H. P.Beverly Chew.From the 'Critic' of March 13, 1886.

Old Books are best! With what delightDoes "Faithorne fecit" greet our sightOn frontispiece or title-pageOf that old time, when on the stage"Sweet Nell" set "Rowley's" heart alight!And you, O Friend, to whom I write,Must not deny, e'en though you might,Through fear of modern pirate's rage,Old Books are best.What though the prints be not so bright,The paper dark, the binding slight?Our author, be he dull or sage,Returning from that distant ageSo lives again, we say of right:Old Books are best.

Old Books are best! With what delightDoes "Faithorne fecit" greet our sightOn frontispiece or title-pageOf that old time, when on the stage"Sweet Nell" set "Rowley's" heart alight!

And you, O Friend, to whom I write,Must not deny, e'en though you might,Through fear of modern pirate's rage,Old Books are best.

What though the prints be not so bright,The paper dark, the binding slight?Our author, be he dull or sage,Returning from that distant ageSo lives again, we say of right:Old Books are best.

Thomas S. Collier.Written expressly for this collection.

Hid by the garret's dust, and lostAmid the cobwebs wreathed above,They lie, these volumes that have costSuch weeks of hope and waste of love.The Theologian's garnered loreOf Scripture text, and words divine;And verse, that to some fair one boreThoughts that like fadeless stars would shine;The grand wrought epics, that were bornFrom mighty throes of heart and brain,—Here rest, their covers all unworn,And all their pages free from stain.Here lie the chronicles that toldOf man, and his heroic deeds—Alas! the words once "writ in gold"Are tarnished so that no one reads.And tracts that smote each other hard,While loud the friendly plaudits rang,All animosities discard,Where old, moth-eaten garments hang.The heroes that were made to strutIn tinsel on "life's mimic stage"Found, all too soon, the deepening rutWhich kept them silent in the page;And heroines, whose loveless plightShould wake the sympathetic tear,In volumes sombre as the nightSleep on through each succeeding year.Here Phyllis languishes forlorn,And Strephon waits beside his flocks,And early huntsmen wind the horn,Within the boundaries of a box.Here, by the irony of fate,Beside the "peasant's humble board,"The monarch "flaunts his robes of state,"And spendthrifts find the miser's hoard.Days come and go, and still we write,And hope for some far happier lotThan that our work should meet this blight—And yet—some books must be forgot.

Hid by the garret's dust, and lostAmid the cobwebs wreathed above,They lie, these volumes that have costSuch weeks of hope and waste of love.

The Theologian's garnered loreOf Scripture text, and words divine;And verse, that to some fair one boreThoughts that like fadeless stars would shine;

The grand wrought epics, that were bornFrom mighty throes of heart and brain,—Here rest, their covers all unworn,And all their pages free from stain.

Here lie the chronicles that toldOf man, and his heroic deeds—Alas! the words once "writ in gold"Are tarnished so that no one reads.

And tracts that smote each other hard,While loud the friendly plaudits rang,All animosities discard,Where old, moth-eaten garments hang.

The heroes that were made to strutIn tinsel on "life's mimic stage"Found, all too soon, the deepening rutWhich kept them silent in the page;

And heroines, whose loveless plightShould wake the sympathetic tear,In volumes sombre as the nightSleep on through each succeeding year.

Here Phyllis languishes forlorn,And Strephon waits beside his flocks,And early huntsmen wind the horn,Within the boundaries of a box.

Here, by the irony of fate,Beside the "peasant's humble board,"The monarch "flaunts his robes of state,"And spendthrifts find the miser's hoard.

Days come and go, and still we write,And hope for some far happier lotThan that our work should meet this blight—And yet—some books must be forgot.

Helen Gray Cone.From 'Oberon and Puck.' 1885.

O brotherhood, with bay-crowned brows undaunted,Who passed serene along our crowded ways,Speak with us still! For we, like Saul, are haunted:Harp sullen spirits from these later days!Whate'er high hope ye had for man your brother,Breathe it, nor leave him, like a prisoned slave,To stare through bars upon a sight no otherThan clouded skies that lighten on a grave.In these still alcoves give us gentle meeting,From dusky shelves kind arms about us fold,Till the New Age shall feel her cold heart beatingRestfully on the warm heart of the Old:Till we shall hear your voices, mild and winningSteal through our doubt and discord, as outswellsAt fiercest noon, above a city's dinning,The chiming music of cathedral bells:Music that lifts the thought from trodden places,And coarse confusions that around us lie,Up to the calm of high, cloud-silvered spaces,Where the tall spire points through the soundless sky.

O brotherhood, with bay-crowned brows undaunted,Who passed serene along our crowded ways,Speak with us still! For we, like Saul, are haunted:Harp sullen spirits from these later days!

Whate'er high hope ye had for man your brother,Breathe it, nor leave him, like a prisoned slave,To stare through bars upon a sight no otherThan clouded skies that lighten on a grave.

In these still alcoves give us gentle meeting,From dusky shelves kind arms about us fold,Till the New Age shall feel her cold heart beatingRestfully on the warm heart of the Old:

Till we shall hear your voices, mild and winningSteal through our doubt and discord, as outswellsAt fiercest noon, above a city's dinning,The chiming music of cathedral bells:

Music that lifts the thought from trodden places,And coarse confusions that around us lie,Up to the calm of high, cloud-silvered spaces,Where the tall spire points through the soundless sky.

This sonnet, prefixed to the second editionof Florio's Montaigne, 1613, isSamuel Daniel.generally attributed to the translator,but the best critics now inclineto the belief that it is by his friend,Daniel.

Since honor from the honorer proceeds,How well do they deserve, that memorizeAnd leave in books for all posterityThe names of worthies and their virtuous deeds;When all their glory else, like water-weedsWithout their element, presently dies,And all their greatness quite forgotten lies,And when and how they flourished no man heeds;How poor remembrances are statues, tombs,And other monuments that men erectTo princes, which remain in closèd rooms,Where but a few behold them, in respectOf books, that to the universal eyeShow how they lived; the other where they lie!

Isaac D'Israeli.Imitated from Rantzau, the founderof the library at Copenhagen.

Golden volumes! richest treasures!Objects of delicious pleasures!You my eyes rejoicing please,You my hands in rapture seize!Brilliant wits, and musing sages,Lights who beamed through many ages,Left to your conscious leaves their story,And dared to trust you with their glory;And now their hope of fame achieved!Dear volumes! you have not deceived!

Austin Dobson.From 'At the Sign of the Lyre.' 1885.

They dwell in the odor of camphor,They stand in a Sheraton shrine,They are "warranted early editions,"These worshipful tomes of mine;—In their creamy "Oxford vellum,"In their redolent "crushed Levant,"With their delicate watered linings,They are jewels of price, I grant;—Blind-tooled and morocco-jointed,They have Bedford's daintiest dress,They are graceful, attenuate, polished,But they gather the dust, no less;—For the row that I prize is yonder,Away on the unglazed shelves,The bulged and the bruisedoctavos,The dear and the dumpy twelves,—Montaigne with his sheepskin blistered,And Howell the worse for wear,And the worm-drilled Jesuits' Horace,And the little old cropped Molière,—And the Burton I bought for a florin,And the Rabelais foxed and flea'd,—For the others I never have opened,But those are the ones I read.

They dwell in the odor of camphor,They stand in a Sheraton shrine,They are "warranted early editions,"These worshipful tomes of mine;—

In their creamy "Oxford vellum,"In their redolent "crushed Levant,"With their delicate watered linings,They are jewels of price, I grant;—

Blind-tooled and morocco-jointed,They have Bedford's daintiest dress,They are graceful, attenuate, polished,But they gather the dust, no less;—

For the row that I prize is yonder,Away on the unglazed shelves,The bulged and the bruisedoctavos,The dear and the dumpy twelves,—

Montaigne with his sheepskin blistered,And Howell the worse for wear,And the worm-drilled Jesuits' Horace,And the little old cropped Molière,—

And the Burton I bought for a florin,And the Rabelais foxed and flea'd,—For the others I never have opened,But those are the ones I read.

Austin Dobson.From 'At the Sign of the Lyre.' 1885.

Missal of the Gothic age,Missal with the blazoned page,Whence, O Missal, hither come,From what dim scriptorium?Whose the name that wrought thee thus,Ambrose or Theophilus,Bending, through the waning light,O'er thy vellum scraped and white;Weaving 'twixt thy rubric linesSprays and leaves and quaint designs:Setting round thy border scrolledBuds of purple and of gold?Ah!—a wondering brotherhood,Doubtless, round that artist stood,Strewing o'er his careful waysLittle choruses of praise;Glad when his deft hand would paintStrife of Sathanas and Saint,Or in secret coign entwistJest of cloister humorist.Well the worker earned his wage,Bending o'er the blazoned page!Tired the hand and tired the witEre the finalExplicit!Not as ours the books of old—Things that steam can stamp and fold;Not as ours the books of yore—Rows of type, and nothing more.Then a book was still a Book,Where a wistful man might look,Finding something through the whole,Beating—like a human soul.In that growth of day by day,When to labor was to pray,Surely something vital passedTo the patient page at last;Something that one still perceivesVaguely present in the leaves;Something from the worker lent;Something mute—but eloquent!

Missal of the Gothic age,Missal with the blazoned page,Whence, O Missal, hither come,From what dim scriptorium?

Whose the name that wrought thee thus,Ambrose or Theophilus,Bending, through the waning light,O'er thy vellum scraped and white;

Weaving 'twixt thy rubric linesSprays and leaves and quaint designs:Setting round thy border scrolledBuds of purple and of gold?

Ah!—a wondering brotherhood,Doubtless, round that artist stood,Strewing o'er his careful waysLittle choruses of praise;

Glad when his deft hand would paintStrife of Sathanas and Saint,Or in secret coign entwistJest of cloister humorist.

Well the worker earned his wage,Bending o'er the blazoned page!Tired the hand and tired the witEre the finalExplicit!

Not as ours the books of old—Things that steam can stamp and fold;Not as ours the books of yore—Rows of type, and nothing more.

Then a book was still a Book,Where a wistful man might look,Finding something through the whole,Beating—like a human soul.

In that growth of day by day,When to labor was to pray,Surely something vital passedTo the patient page at last;

Something that one still perceivesVaguely present in the leaves;Something from the worker lent;Something mute—but eloquent!

BY A GENTLEMAN OF THE TEMPLE.

Austin Dobson.Published originally in 'Notes andQueries,' January 8, 1881.

While cynicCharlesstill trimm'd the vane'TwixtQuerouailleandCastlemaine,In days that shockedJohn Evelyn,My First Possessor fix'd me in.In days ofDutchmenand of frost,The narrow sea withJamesI crossed;Returning when once more beganThe Age ofSaturnand ofAnne.I am a part of all the past;I knew theGeorges, first and last;I have been oft where else was noneSave the great wig ofAddison;And seen on shelves beneath me gropeThe little eager form ofPope.I lost the Third that own'd me whenFrenchNoaillesfled at Dettingen;The yearJames Wolfesurpris'd Quebec,The Fourth in hunting broke his neck;The day thatWilliam Hogarthdy'd,The Fifth one found me in Cheapside.This was aScholar, one of thoseWhoseGreekis sounder than theirhose;He lov'd old books, and nappy ale,So liv'd at Streatham, next toThrale.'Twas there this stain of grease I boastWas made byDr. Johnson'stoast.(He did it, as I think, for spite;My Master called himJacobite!)And now that I so long to-dayHave restedpost discrimina,Safe in the brass-wir'd book-case whereI watched the Vicar's whit'ning hairMust I these travell'd bones interIn someCollector'ssepulchre!Must I be torn from hence and thrownWithfrontispieceandcolophon!With vagrantE's, andI's andO's,The spoil of plunder'dFolios!With scraps and snippets that to MeAre naught butkitchen company!Nay, rather, Friend, this favor grant me;Tear me at once;but don't transplant me.

This was aScholar, one of thoseWhoseGreekis sounder than theirhose;He lov'd old books, and nappy ale,So liv'd at Streatham, next toThrale.'Twas there this stain of grease I boastWas made byDr. Johnson'stoast.(He did it, as I think, for spite;My Master called himJacobite!)And now that I so long to-dayHave restedpost discrimina,Safe in the brass-wir'd book-case whereI watched the Vicar's whit'ning hairMust I these travell'd bones interIn someCollector'ssepulchre!Must I be torn from hence and thrownWithfrontispieceandcolophon!With vagrantE's, andI's andO's,The spoil of plunder'dFolios!With scraps and snippets that to MeAre naught butkitchen company!Nay, rather, Friend, this favor grant me;Tear me at once;but don't transplant me.

Cheltenham,Sept. 31, 1792.

Quoted from the supplement of Dibdin'sHenry Drury.'Bibliomania,' where the originalLatin lines may be found.

From mouldering Abbey's dark Scriptorium brought,See vellum tomes by Monkish labor wrought;Nor yet the comma born, Papyri see,And uncial letters' wizard grammary:View myfifteenersin their ragged line;What ink! What linen! Only known long syne—Entering where Aldus might have fixed his throne,Or Harry Stephens coveted his own.

Maurice F. Egan.From 'Songs and Sonnets.' 1885.

I read, O friend, no pages of old lore,Which I loved well, and yet the flying days,That softly passed as wind through green spring waysAnd left a perfume, swift fly as of yore,Though in clear Plato's stream I look no more,Neither with Moschus sing Sicilian lays,Nor with bold Dante wander in amaze,Nor see our Will the Golden Age restore.I read a book to which old books are new,And new books old. A living book is mine—In age, three years: in it I read no lies—In it to myriad truths I find the clew—A tender, little child: but I divineThoughts high as Dante's in its clear blue eyes.

Evenus(the grammarian).Rendered into English by A. Langin the 'Library.' 1881.

Pest of the Muses, devourer of pages, in crannies hat lurkest,Fruits of the Muses to taint, labor of learning to spoil;Wherefore, O black-fleshed worm! wert thou born for the evil thou workest?Wherefore thine own foul form shap'st thou with envious toil?

Hic, inquis, veto quisquam fuit oletum.Pinge duos angues.Pers.Sat.i. l. 108.

John Ferriar."An Epistle to Richard Heber, Esq."Manchester, April, 1809.

What wild desires, what restless tormentsseize The hapless man, who feels the book-disease,If niggard Fortune cramp his gen'rous mindAnd Prudence quench the Spark by heaven assign'd!With wistful glance his aching eyes beholdThe Princeps-copy, clad in blue and gold,Where the tall Book-case, with partition thin,Displays, yet guards the tempting charms within:So great Facardin view'd, as sages[2]tell,Fair Crystalline immur'd in lucid cell.Not thus the few, by happier fortune grac'd,And blest, like you, with talents, wealth, and taste,Who gather nobly, with judicious hand,The Muse's treasures from each letter'd strand.For you the Monk illum'd his pictur'd page,For you the press defies the Spoils of age;Faustusfor you infernal tortures bore,For youErasmus[3]starv'd on Adria's shore.TheFolio-Aldusloads your happy Shelves,And dapperElzevirs, like fairy elves,Shew their light forms amidst the well-gilt Twelves:In slender type theGiolitosshine,And boldBodonistamps his Roman line.For you theLouvreopes its regal doors,And eitherDidotlends his brilliant stores:With faultless types, and costly sculptures bright,Ibarra'sQuixote charms your ravish'd sight:Labordein splendid tablets shall explainThy beauties, glorious, tho' unhappySpain!O, hallowed name, the theme of future years,Embalm'd in Patriot-blood, and England's tears,Be thine fresh honors from the tuneful tongue,By Isis' stream which mourning Zion sung!But devious oft' from ev'ry classic Muse,The keen Collector meaner paths will choose:And first the Margin's breadth his soul employs,Pure, snowy, broad, the type of nobler joys.In vain mightHomerroll the tide of song,OrHoracesmile, orTullycharm the throng;If crost by Pallas' ire, the trenchant bladeOr too oblique, or near, the edge invade,The Bibliomane exclaims, with haggard eye,"No Margin!" turns in haste, and scorns to buy.He turns wherePybusrears his Atlas-head,OrMadoc'smass conceals its veins of lead.The glossy lines in polish'd order stand,While the vast margin spreads on either hand,Like Russian wastes, that edge the frozen deep,Chill with pale glare, and lull to mortal sleep.[4]Or English books, neglected and forgot,Excite his wish in many a dusty lot:Whatever trashMidwintergave to day,OrHarper'srhiming sons, in paper gray,At ev'ry auction, bent on fresh supplies,He cons his Catalogue with anxious eyes:Where'er the slim Italics mark the page,Curious and rarehis ardent mind engage.Unlike the Swans, in Tuscan Song display'd,He hovers eager o'er Oblivion's Shade,To snatch obscurest names from endless night,And giveCokainorFletcher[5]back to light.In red morocco drest he loves to boastThe bloody murder, or the yelling ghost;Or dismal ballads, sung to crouds of old,Now cheaply bought for thrice their weight in gold.Yet to th' unhonor'd dead be Satire just;Some flow'rs[6]"smell sweet and blossom in their dust."'Tis thus ev'nShirleyboasts a golden line,AndLovelacestrikes, by fits, a note divine.Th' unequal gleams like midnight-lightnings play,And deepen'd gloom succeeds, in place of day.But human bliss still meets some envious storm;He droops to view hisPaynters'mangled form:Presumptuous grief, while pensive Taste repinesO'er the frail relics of her Attic Shrines!O for that power, for which Magicians vye.To look through earth, and secret hoards descry!I'd spurn such gems as Marinel[7]beheld,And all the wealth Aladdin's cavern held,Might I divine in what mysterious gloomThe rolls of sacred bards have found their tomb:Beneath what mould'ring tower, or waste champain,Is hidMenander, sweetest of the train:Where restsAntimachus'forgotten lyre,Where gentleSappho'sstill seductive fire;Or he,[8]whom chief the laughing Muses own,Yet skill'd with softest accents to bemoanSweet Philomel[9]in strains so like her own.The menial train has prov'd the Scourge of wit,Ev'nOmarburnt less Science than the spit.Earthquakes and wars remit their deadly rage,But ev'ry feast demands some fated page.Ye Towers of Julius,[10]ye alone remainOf all the piles that saw our nation's stain,WhenHarry'ssway opprest the groaning realm,And Lust and Rapine seiz'd the wav'ring helm.Then ruffian-hands defaced the sacred fanes,Their saintly statues and their storied panes;Then from the chest, with ancient art embost,The Penman's pious scrolls were rudely tost;Then richest manuscripts, profusely spread,The brawny Churls' devouring Oven fed:And thence Collectors date the heav'nly ireThat wrapt Augusta's domes in sheets of fire.[11]Taste, tho' misled, may yet some purpose gain,But Fashion guides a book-compelling train.[12]Once, far apart from Learning's moping crew,The travell'd beau display'd his red-heel'd shoe,TillOrfordrose, and told of rhiming Peers,Repeatingnoblewords to polish'd ears;[13]Taught the gay croud to prize a fluttering name,In trifling toil'd, nor "blush'd to find it fame."The letter'd fop, now takes a larger scope,With classic furniture, design'd byHope,(Hopewhom Upholst'rers eye with mute despair,The doughty pedant of an elbow-chair;)Now warm'd byOrford, and byGrangerschool'd,In Paper-books, superbly gilt and tool'd,He pastes, from injur'd volumes snipt away,HisEnglish Heads, in chronicled array.Torn from their destin'd page (unworthy meedOf knightly counsel, and heroic deed)NotFaithorne'sstroke, norField'sown types can save[14]The gallant Veres, and one-eyedOglebrave.Indignant readers seek the image fled,And curse the busy fool, whowants a head.Proudly he shews, with many a smile elate,The scrambling subjects of theprivate plate;While Time their actions and their names bereaves,They grin for ever in the guarded leaves.Like Poets, born, in vain Collectors striveTo cross their Fate, and learn the art to thrive.Like Cacus, bent to tame their struggling will,The Tyrant-passion drags them backward still:Ev'n I, debarr'd of ease, and studious hours,Confess, mid' anxious toil, its lurking pow'rs.How pure the joy, when first my hands unfoldThe small, rare volume, black with tarnish'd gold!The Eye skims restless, like the roving bee,O'er flowers of wit, or song, or repartee,While sweet as Springs, new-bubbling from the stone,Glides through the breast some pleasing theme unknown.Now dipt inRossi's[15]terse and classic style,His harmless tales awake a transient smile.NowBouchet'smotley stores my thoughts arrest,With wond'rous reading, and with learned jest.Bouchet[16]whose tomes a grateful line demand,The valued gift ofStanley'slib'ral hand.Now sadly pleased, through faded Rome I stray,And mix regrets with gentleDu Bellay;[17]Or turn, with keen delight, the curious page,Where hardy Pasquin[18]braves the Pontiff's rage.But D——n's strains should tell the sad reverse,When Business calls, invet'rate foe to verse!Tell how "the Demon claps his iron hands,""Waves his lank locks, and scours along the lands."Through wintry blasts, or summer's fire I go,To scenes of danger, and to sights of woe.Ev'n when to Margate ev'ry Cockney roves,And brainsick-poets long for shelt'ring groves,Whose lofty shades exclude the noontide glow,While Zephyrs breathe, and waters trill below,[19]Me rigid Fate averts, by tasks like these,From heav'nly musings, and from letter'd ease.Such wholesome checks the better Genius sends,From dire rehearsals to protect our friends:Else when the social rites our joys renew,The stuff'd Portfolio would alarm your view,Whence volleying rhimes your patience would o'er-come,And, spite of kindness, drive you early home.So when the traveller's hasty footsteps glideNear smoking lava on Vesuvio's side,Hoarse-mutt'ring thunders from the depths proceed,And spouting fires incite his eager speed.Appall'd he flies, while rattling show'rs invade,Invoking ev'ry Saint for instant aid:Breathless, amaz'd, he seeks the distant shore,And vows to tempt the dang'rous gulph no more.

Not thus the few, by happier fortune grac'd,And blest, like you, with talents, wealth, and taste,Who gather nobly, with judicious hand,The Muse's treasures from each letter'd strand.For you the Monk illum'd his pictur'd page,For you the press defies the Spoils of age;Faustusfor you infernal tortures bore,For youErasmus[3]starv'd on Adria's shore.TheFolio-Aldusloads your happy Shelves,And dapperElzevirs, like fairy elves,Shew their light forms amidst the well-gilt Twelves:In slender type theGiolitosshine,And boldBodonistamps his Roman line.For you theLouvreopes its regal doors,And eitherDidotlends his brilliant stores:With faultless types, and costly sculptures bright,Ibarra'sQuixote charms your ravish'd sight:Labordein splendid tablets shall explainThy beauties, glorious, tho' unhappySpain!O, hallowed name, the theme of future years,Embalm'd in Patriot-blood, and England's tears,Be thine fresh honors from the tuneful tongue,By Isis' stream which mourning Zion sung!

But devious oft' from ev'ry classic Muse,The keen Collector meaner paths will choose:And first the Margin's breadth his soul employs,Pure, snowy, broad, the type of nobler joys.In vain mightHomerroll the tide of song,OrHoracesmile, orTullycharm the throng;If crost by Pallas' ire, the trenchant bladeOr too oblique, or near, the edge invade,The Bibliomane exclaims, with haggard eye,"No Margin!" turns in haste, and scorns to buy.He turns wherePybusrears his Atlas-head,OrMadoc'smass conceals its veins of lead.The glossy lines in polish'd order stand,While the vast margin spreads on either hand,Like Russian wastes, that edge the frozen deep,Chill with pale glare, and lull to mortal sleep.[4]

Or English books, neglected and forgot,Excite his wish in many a dusty lot:Whatever trashMidwintergave to day,OrHarper'srhiming sons, in paper gray,At ev'ry auction, bent on fresh supplies,He cons his Catalogue with anxious eyes:Where'er the slim Italics mark the page,Curious and rarehis ardent mind engage.Unlike the Swans, in Tuscan Song display'd,He hovers eager o'er Oblivion's Shade,To snatch obscurest names from endless night,And giveCokainorFletcher[5]back to light.In red morocco drest he loves to boastThe bloody murder, or the yelling ghost;Or dismal ballads, sung to crouds of old,Now cheaply bought for thrice their weight in gold.Yet to th' unhonor'd dead be Satire just;Some flow'rs[6]"smell sweet and blossom in their dust."'Tis thus ev'nShirleyboasts a golden line,AndLovelacestrikes, by fits, a note divine.Th' unequal gleams like midnight-lightnings play,And deepen'd gloom succeeds, in place of day.

But human bliss still meets some envious storm;He droops to view hisPaynters'mangled form:Presumptuous grief, while pensive Taste repinesO'er the frail relics of her Attic Shrines!O for that power, for which Magicians vye.To look through earth, and secret hoards descry!I'd spurn such gems as Marinel[7]beheld,And all the wealth Aladdin's cavern held,Might I divine in what mysterious gloomThe rolls of sacred bards have found their tomb:Beneath what mould'ring tower, or waste champain,Is hidMenander, sweetest of the train:Where restsAntimachus'forgotten lyre,Where gentleSappho'sstill seductive fire;Or he,[8]whom chief the laughing Muses own,Yet skill'd with softest accents to bemoanSweet Philomel[9]in strains so like her own.

The menial train has prov'd the Scourge of wit,Ev'nOmarburnt less Science than the spit.Earthquakes and wars remit their deadly rage,But ev'ry feast demands some fated page.Ye Towers of Julius,[10]ye alone remainOf all the piles that saw our nation's stain,WhenHarry'ssway opprest the groaning realm,And Lust and Rapine seiz'd the wav'ring helm.Then ruffian-hands defaced the sacred fanes,Their saintly statues and their storied panes;Then from the chest, with ancient art embost,The Penman's pious scrolls were rudely tost;Then richest manuscripts, profusely spread,The brawny Churls' devouring Oven fed:And thence Collectors date the heav'nly ireThat wrapt Augusta's domes in sheets of fire.[11]

Taste, tho' misled, may yet some purpose gain,But Fashion guides a book-compelling train.[12]Once, far apart from Learning's moping crew,The travell'd beau display'd his red-heel'd shoe,TillOrfordrose, and told of rhiming Peers,Repeatingnoblewords to polish'd ears;[13]Taught the gay croud to prize a fluttering name,In trifling toil'd, nor "blush'd to find it fame."The letter'd fop, now takes a larger scope,With classic furniture, design'd byHope,(Hopewhom Upholst'rers eye with mute despair,The doughty pedant of an elbow-chair;)Now warm'd byOrford, and byGrangerschool'd,In Paper-books, superbly gilt and tool'd,He pastes, from injur'd volumes snipt away,HisEnglish Heads, in chronicled array.Torn from their destin'd page (unworthy meedOf knightly counsel, and heroic deed)NotFaithorne'sstroke, norField'sown types can save[14]The gallant Veres, and one-eyedOglebrave.Indignant readers seek the image fled,And curse the busy fool, whowants a head.

Proudly he shews, with many a smile elate,The scrambling subjects of theprivate plate;While Time their actions and their names bereaves,They grin for ever in the guarded leaves.

Like Poets, born, in vain Collectors striveTo cross their Fate, and learn the art to thrive.Like Cacus, bent to tame their struggling will,The Tyrant-passion drags them backward still:Ev'n I, debarr'd of ease, and studious hours,Confess, mid' anxious toil, its lurking pow'rs.How pure the joy, when first my hands unfoldThe small, rare volume, black with tarnish'd gold!The Eye skims restless, like the roving bee,O'er flowers of wit, or song, or repartee,While sweet as Springs, new-bubbling from the stone,Glides through the breast some pleasing theme unknown.Now dipt inRossi's[15]terse and classic style,His harmless tales awake a transient smile.NowBouchet'smotley stores my thoughts arrest,With wond'rous reading, and with learned jest.Bouchet[16]whose tomes a grateful line demand,The valued gift ofStanley'slib'ral hand.Now sadly pleased, through faded Rome I stray,And mix regrets with gentleDu Bellay;[17]Or turn, with keen delight, the curious page,Where hardy Pasquin[18]braves the Pontiff's rage.

But D——n's strains should tell the sad reverse,When Business calls, invet'rate foe to verse!Tell how "the Demon claps his iron hands,""Waves his lank locks, and scours along the lands."Through wintry blasts, or summer's fire I go,To scenes of danger, and to sights of woe.Ev'n when to Margate ev'ry Cockney roves,And brainsick-poets long for shelt'ring groves,Whose lofty shades exclude the noontide glow,While Zephyrs breathe, and waters trill below,[19]Me rigid Fate averts, by tasks like these,From heav'nly musings, and from letter'd ease.

Such wholesome checks the better Genius sends,From dire rehearsals to protect our friends:Else when the social rites our joys renew,The stuff'd Portfolio would alarm your view,Whence volleying rhimes your patience would o'er-come,And, spite of kindness, drive you early home.So when the traveller's hasty footsteps glideNear smoking lava on Vesuvio's side,Hoarse-mutt'ring thunders from the depths proceed,And spouting fires incite his eager speed.Appall'd he flies, while rattling show'rs invade,Invoking ev'ry Saint for instant aid:Breathless, amaz'd, he seeks the distant shore,And vows to tempt the dang'rous gulph no more.

F. Fertiault.Rendered into English by A. Lang inthe 'Library.' 1881.

Books rule thy mind, so let it be!Thy heart is mine, and mine alone.What more can I require of thee?Books rule thy mind, so let it be!Contented when thy bliss I see,I wish a world of books thine own.Books rule thy mind, so let it be!Thy heart is mine, and mine alone.

William Freeland.From 'A Birth Song and otherPoems.' 1882.

Give me a nook and a book,And let the proud world spin round;Let it scramble by hook or by crookFor wealth or a name with a sound.You are welcome to amble your ways,Aspirers to place or to glory;May big bells jangle your praise,And golden pens blazon your story!For me, let me dwell in my nook,Here by the curve of this brook,That croons to the tune of my book,Whose melody wafts me foreverOn the waves of an unseen river.Give me a book and a nookFar away from the glitter and strife;Give me a staff and a crook,The calm and the sweetness of life;Let me pause—let me brood as I list,On the marvels of heaven's own spinning—Sunlight and moonlight and mist,Glorious without slaying or sinning.Vain world, let me reign in my nook,King of this kingdom, my book,A region by fashion forsook;Pass on, ye lean gamblers for glory,Nor mar the sweet tune of my story!

Give me a book and a nookFar away from the glitter and strife;Give me a staff and a crook,The calm and the sweetness of life;Let me pause—let me brood as I list,On the marvels of heaven's own spinning—Sunlight and moonlight and mist,Glorious without slaying or sinning.Vain world, let me reign in my nook,King of this kingdom, my book,A region by fashion forsook;Pass on, ye lean gamblers for glory,Nor mar the sweet tune of my story!

There is many a true word spoken in doggerel.—Czech Folk-Song.

Edmund Gosse.Written for the present collection.

Come hither, my Wither,My Suckling, my Dryden!My Hudibras, hither!My Heinsius from Leyden!Dear Play-books in quarto,Fat tomes in brown leather,Stray never too far toCome back here together!Books writ on occult andHeretical letters,I, I am the SultanOf you and your betters.I need you all round me;When wits have grown muddy,My best hours have found meWith you in my study.I've varied departmentsTo give my books shelter;Shelves, open apartmentsFor tomes helter-skelter;There are artisans' flats, fitFor common editions,—I find them, as that's fit,Good wholesome positions.But books that I cherishLive under glass cases;In the waste lest they perishI build them oases;Where gas cannot find them,Where worms cannot grapple,Those panes hold behind them,My eye and its apple.And here you see flirtingFine folks of distinction:Unique books just skirtingThe verge of extinction;Old texts with one errorAnd long notes upon it;The 'Magistrates' Mirror'(With Nottingham's sonnet);Tooled Russias to gaze on,Moroccos to fondle,My Denham, in blazon,My vellum-backed Vondel,My Marvell,—a copyWas never seen taller,—My Jones's 'Love's Poppy,'My dear little Waller;My Sandys, a real jewel!My exquisite, 'Adamo!'My Dean Donne's 'Death's Duel!'My Behn (naughty madam O!);Ephelia's! Orinda's!Ma'am Pix and Ma'am Barker!—The rhymsters you find, asThe morals grow darker!I never upbraid theseOld periwigged sinners,Their songs and light ladies,Their dances and dinners;My book-shelf's a havenFrom storms puritanic,—We sure may be gay whenOf death we've no panic!My parlor is little,And poor are its treasures;All pleasures are brittle,And so are my pleasures;But though I shall neverBe Beckford or Locker,While Fate does not severThe door from the knocker,No book shall tap vainlyAt latch or at lattice(If costumed urbanely,And worth our care, that is):My poets from slumberShall rise in morocco,To shield the new comerFrom storm or sirocco.—————————I might prate thus for pages,The theme is so pleasant;But the gloom of the agesLies on me at present;All business and fear toThe cold world I banish.Hush! like the Ameer, toMy harem I vanish!

Come hither, my Wither,My Suckling, my Dryden!My Hudibras, hither!My Heinsius from Leyden!Dear Play-books in quarto,Fat tomes in brown leather,Stray never too far toCome back here together!

Books writ on occult andHeretical letters,I, I am the SultanOf you and your betters.I need you all round me;When wits have grown muddy,My best hours have found meWith you in my study.

I've varied departmentsTo give my books shelter;Shelves, open apartmentsFor tomes helter-skelter;There are artisans' flats, fitFor common editions,—I find them, as that's fit,Good wholesome positions.

But books that I cherishLive under glass cases;In the waste lest they perishI build them oases;Where gas cannot find them,Where worms cannot grapple,Those panes hold behind them,My eye and its apple.

And here you see flirtingFine folks of distinction:Unique books just skirtingThe verge of extinction;Old texts with one errorAnd long notes upon it;The 'Magistrates' Mirror'(With Nottingham's sonnet);

Tooled Russias to gaze on,Moroccos to fondle,My Denham, in blazon,My vellum-backed Vondel,My Marvell,—a copyWas never seen taller,—My Jones's 'Love's Poppy,'My dear little Waller;

My Sandys, a real jewel!My exquisite, 'Adamo!'My Dean Donne's 'Death's Duel!'My Behn (naughty madam O!);Ephelia's! Orinda's!Ma'am Pix and Ma'am Barker!—The rhymsters you find, asThe morals grow darker!

I never upbraid theseOld periwigged sinners,Their songs and light ladies,Their dances and dinners;My book-shelf's a havenFrom storms puritanic,—We sure may be gay whenOf death we've no panic!

My parlor is little,And poor are its treasures;All pleasures are brittle,And so are my pleasures;But though I shall neverBe Beckford or Locker,While Fate does not severThe door from the knocker,

No book shall tap vainlyAt latch or at lattice(If costumed urbanely,And worth our care, that is):My poets from slumberShall rise in morocco,To shield the new comerFrom storm or sirocco.

—————————

I might prate thus for pages,The theme is so pleasant;But the gloom of the agesLies on me at present;All business and fear toThe cold world I banish.Hush! like the Ameer, toMy harem I vanish!

Thomas Gordon Hake.From the 'State' of April 17, 1886.

Back to Index Next