Henry Freeling, Esq., the eldest son of Sir Francis. See page 464, ante. From one of the two cuts, there reprinted, I am enabled to close these Freelingiana by the use of it on the present occasion. It is full of mystery and terror.

But three more collections to notice in Londonand these very briefly: although one of them, alone, would furnish materials for the composition of one of the most interesting and beautiful bibliographical volumes in the world. It is that of the Right Hon. THOMAS GRENVILLE to which I can only allude, and to which so many pages of my previous productions have been indebted for so large a share of interest which they might contain. It is more than negative consolation to be sensible of the debt which I have endeavoured to discharge in the language of thankfulness for all favours conferred from that quarter. Not only for its dimensions (and yet TWENTY THOUSAND VOLUMES cannot be said to be contained in a nut shell!) have I never seen anything like it, but I can have no conception of anything going beyond it. In Spanish lore it is exquisitely rich; and the recent acquirement, not only of the highest priced book sold at the sale of Mr. Heber's library (TIRANTE IL BIANCO), but of very many of the more prominent cast of character in that same Collection, seemed only to be wanting to render such a Library as that in Cleveland Square as complete... as all earthly things can count upon being.

But a passing and a final word upon the Bibliotheca Heberiana here alluded to. It is now fast melting away. Seven successive snow-balls of enormous dimensions*, have already disappeared; and

* See page 366, ante.

four more of equal size are quickly to fall into dissolution. Within six months to come, every volume will have also probably taken its departure for ever; and an aggregate of perhaps some one hundred thousand volumes will have been disposed of under the hammers of Messrs. Sothebys, Evans, Stanley, and Wheatley. Considering the short time allowed for the dispersion of such an unparalelled mass of Books-the celerity of dispatch, in the preparation of the several catalogues, by Messrs. Payne and Foss, has been perhaps equally unparalelled. It boots not now to introduce my own notions, or my earliest views, of the best method to have been adopted in the disposal of so large and so valuable a body of property in the shape of Books. Every subsequent reflection has only confirmed the propriety of those early views. When it is known, as a fact, that the late Owner of these books declared, several years before he went abroad, that his Library had then cost him NINETY-TWO THOUSAND POUNDS, and that the Individual*, to whom that communication was made, supposed the sum must have been DOUBLED before Mr. Heber's decease, it seems both a natural and necessary consequence to infer, that its net produce-even now— would be nearer half than a third of the sum origi

*My authority is my friend Mr. Markland, who received the intelligence from the late Roger Wilbraham, Esq., to whom Mr. Heber personally made the communication. Mr. Wilbraham added to Mr. Markland, that he supposed the sum in question had been doubled.

nally expended. Time alone will solve that point. Meanwhile Messrs. Payne and Foss have most faithfully acted up to the letter and spirit of their instructions; and the part, just published, of the Manuscripts, is really a most creditable performance.

But, in the probable result of all these united Sales, there are several drawbacks to be taken into consideration. First, the times have been clearly adverse to the public sales of Libraries. The bibliomania is greatly subdued even with well-disposed and wealthy purchasers. Books, like other objects of pursuit, or articles of taste, have become of easy obtainment...chiefly in consequence of their constant importation from abroad. But, more than either, or than the whole of these drawback-considerations, must the character or complexion of Mr. Heber's library itself be taken into consideration: first, in respect to condition, and secondly, in regard to duplicates. The condition of the books, generally speaking, was far from tempting; and I once had it from the mouth of their Owner, that 5000/. might be well laid out upon their coating. The binding of the Harleian Library (chiefly in red morocco) cost Lord Oxford 18,000l. The duplicates the triplicates and even more—of rare and costly volumes, had no end. Of the first Aristotle and first Plato alone, there were, one with the other, hardly fewer than five copies; each not only throwing the other into a darker shade, but thereby impoverishing the value of every other copy in the market. The

system of doubling, trebling, and even quadrupling, seemed to have neither definite object nor boundary, and is only traceable to a rapaciousness of hunger and thirst, in the INDIVIDUAL COLLECTOR, such as the world never saw before, and is not likely to see again. The foregoing pages✶ too strongly attest my former attachment to that Individual to suppose that, on the present occasion, I can have any other wish than that a PLENTIFUL HARVEST may crown the exertions of those who have brought their sickles into the field.

But it is getting late, and there is much of Library Sketching yet to encounter. I will take the reader with me to Upper Brook Street, and introduce him for a few minutes only to the select and promising collection of the Honourable R. CURZON, a young man deeply imbued with that thorough indomitable ardour in the cause, which knows no abatement, and will lead in the end to the acquisition of some of the rarest treasures. The last letter which I had the gratification of receiving from this "enterprising Knight," is full of good omen. " I have only just returned (Jan. 23, 1835, says the writer) to England, and have brought several tough old books and Greek MSS. from Syria and Albania, which I should be very glad to shew you."

Of a more classical and finished character, is the library of LORD VERNON; a young Nobleman, who has but just lifted his late father's coronet to his

* See page 429-446.