deacon, stuffs the pockets and seats of his own carriage with a very host of Lyonese Counterfeits !

Again. There is too much digression—too much comprehension of matter, or of books and treatises-connected rather with the Giunti, than intrinsically and absolutely the Aldine, Press. Doubtless it may be both difficult and rash to propound the "certi fines” in this pursuit; and all I chuse further to say is, that if Dr. Butler's ALDINE LIBRARY be the second in Europe, it is only because Lord Spencer's is the first. Away, then, for the Books themselves! But the work of Renouard can alone be our guide as here is occular demonstration of the truisms of his text. I must of necessity be comparatively brief. First for the Fifteeners; but let us make our passing reverence to the productions of the press, of this period, which were manufactured in the office of Andreas Torresanus, the father-inlaw of Aldus. Here is the Cicero Epist. ad Fam., 1483, folio, splendid UPON VELLUM: Sabellici Hist. Venet., 1487, also UPON VELLUM. Alphabetum et Preces Illyricæ, 1527, 4to., UNIQUE. Of Aldus, here are the Galeomyomachia, Muscus, Lascaris, Leonicenus, Hora, Theocritus, and the Poliphilo (UPON VELLUM)...all of the Fifteenth century :-the first of indescribable rarity.

As we travel downwards, here are the Poeta Christiani, Virgil and Martial, all of 1501; and of the latter, one copy upon fine paper, the other

UPON VELLUM.

The Dante of 1502, UPON VELLUM. The Rhetores Græci, of 1508, splendid; the Virgil of 1514, upon large paper, and Petrarch of this date, UPON VELLUM; the Greek Bible of 1518, upon thick paper; the Pontanus, 1518, on large paper; Athenæus Pausanias, first editions; Herodotus, on large or thick paper; Catechisms, Canons, and Councils of every date; and that of Trent, of 1564, upon large blue paper; Dudlæi Oracio, 1530, 4to., only one other copy known; the Latin Bibles of 1590, 1592, folio, each upon large paper. But enough. The handling of these "DRAGONS" has relaxed your stoutest muscles, and exhausted equally your attention and terms of admiration. The dinner bell rings, and after disburdening ourselves of a layer or two of Aldine dust, we hasten to the "Apollo," and there behold all that is attractive from a breadth of hospitality becoming a Proprietor of large margined Aldines. And then-hard by -even during snatches of savoury viands, and especially during the migrations of the glass-there lurks, in yonder cupboard, a dessert-in the shape of ANCIENT GREEK MSS. chiefly of the sacred text: which "ever and anon" shew their enticing forms and glittering accompaniments, in the character of Illuminations. What a gorgeous and comforting display !-many of them being of not less intrinsic worth and antiquity than adventitious embellish

ment.

But my friend the Archdeacon possesses a FAME beyond that which is only connected with rare and

costly volumes. He is not less true to the principles of his church than of his constitution; of that constitution, framed according to the wisdom of those who worked the Revolution of 1688, through all its shifting varieties, to a steady and triumphant close. As the Head Master of a Public School, his celebrity is decidedly...UPON VELLUM.

It is some forty miles hence to the river Merseybut at sunset I must cross it in a steamer, and strive to reach Oak Hill-for there lives the worthy knight SIR JOHN TOBIN; and beside him are the Bedford and Ferdinand and Isabella Missals. A thousand guineas shall not wrench these lovely tomes from their resting places. Talk as you will of what Paris and Munich contain, no Englishman would exchange the first for any gem of foreign complexion; and every Spaniard ought to have united and made a canopy of their swords over the head of the latter, ere it should have been allowed to have left its native soil. Both volumes are old and dear friends of mine; as the pages of the Decameron sufficiently attest. But in this passing tribute paid to their excellence and worth, I love, as I wish, to record days of "pleasaunt disporting," spent, some two years agone, in the bosom of the family of the Master of the property in question days which, in the ordinary calculation of human occurrences, never can return again.

* See the First Day, pp. c. and clxiii.-vii. The fac similes—one of the Duke of Bedford in the former, and of St. John the Evangelist in the latter, may be pronounced as perfect as they could well be represented.

Would that life had not severer anxieties and disappointments than this:-and yet, this is anything but trivial... to a grateful heart.

First, of the paramount BEDFORD MISSAL. But what more can possibly be said of it? Yes-a volume may be written about it, bulkier and prettier than the production of old John Gough. I have ever considered the representation of the Duke alone-though given with the utmost accuracy in the work just referred to-to be rather a partial and ungallant achievement; and therefore, by the help of the ready and dexterous pencil of Miss Sarah Tobin... at all times devoted as much to oblige others as to gratify herself... I am enabled to bring the Duchess out of her hiding place, and to introduce her more largely to the world. The reader may rely upon the fidelity of the copy.

What gorgeous volume next greets my eye, and causes an increased pulsation of heart? It is one of the most splendid as well as stately dimensions : uniting the graphic talents of those distinguished artists, Messrs. Cooper, Willement, Stephanoff, and R. T. Bone; and is an historical account of the CHAMP DE DRAP D'OR. It is reported to have cost its first owner four hundred guineas; and was bought by its present owner at the sale of Mr. Hanrott's library for 160l. That was a good day's work. But how to select from such an assemblage of heroic and chivalrous adjuncts? where vignettes even overpower the larger subjects as that represented in the OPPOSITE PLATE, and the one here subjoined, triumphantly attest.