of the Bibliomania; which, in all respects, it most amply deserves. It is a most happy combination of good-humour, agreeable amusement, and solid information. There is an omission that I hope will be very soon supplied in a new edition. It is this-that the Auction Maniacs are very properly shut up, or rather out, during the very warm weather. It would be impossible that in the dog-days, at least in such as the present, Leigh's rooms could be approached with any degree of safety. The rabies (biblio-canina) would rage to such an extent, that the poor madmen would not only be snarling and barking, but absolutely biting each other, and whomsoever they met, whilst the chagrin at their disappointments continued. It were well that at all times Mr. Leigh had a tub of salt water wherein the bidders should be dipped on their departure. "For myself, though my bibliomania is pretty well cured, thanks to Doctors Pitt, Perceval, and Co., I cannot say that I am at present much better in other respects than when I had the pleasure of seeing you. I begin to despair of ever recovering the unimpaired use of my voice, which, if it be better one day, is bad again on the least accession of cold (rheum), or after any exertion in talking. I am, moreover, so excessively relaxed, that I cannot stir out when the sun shines, nor can I at present keep myself cool indoors. I was going to write at home-but I recollected that I have no home. My cottage is but two stories high, and the upper rooms are so heated by the solar rays in the day-time, that even during the night I swelter with heat. I cry out with the psalmist, O that I had wings like a dove!' and then I would fly to the sea-coast-especially if I could meet you there, and get a few of such pleasant walks as I had to Dulwich College, opposite to which, at the old white wooden house, my friend D'ISRAELI is now dwelling, and gleaning the library for a new volume of 'Curiosities.' "I am here a sad, solitary prisoner, almost without any society. There is not, so far as I know, a book worth 10s. 6d. in the whole parish-whose inhabitants are the most illiterate of all others. I sent a very civil, humble, and modest request to a very opulent man, whose grounds are near me, that I might be indulged in the privilege of walking in a shady walk during his absence. To this I had no answer, and I sometime afterwards learned the reason, viz. that he could not write. I took the liberty of observing to my informant that he might at least have used his tongue, though he could not his pen. My neighbours, with the exception of two friendly quaker bleachers of great opulence, are generelly Saturday-to-Monday-men-gig fellows, that consume half their time of recreation on the road, and the rest in soaking through the Sunday. There is, notwithstanding all this misery, no moving from this spot for a considerable time. I am spell-bound, and therefore I know not how to get my Pynson to you. There is no getting to London and back again on the same day, and I have at present no habitation or home to contain me for a week-which I must, however, spend in London before September; and then I will do what I can for you. It is quite impossible that anybody can get at anything in my absence, as the rooms are all locked against the besiegers and their scaling ladders. In the mean time, I will answer your queries to the best of my power. 66 "1. Is it Pynson's edition of the Ship of Fools, 1509, on vellum, in the Bibl. Imperiale? What I saw was, to the best of my recollection, a quarto, and the edition by W. de Worde, 1517, translated into prose by Watson *— the same as my copy lent you in the last parcel. I should be very positive about this, if you had not embarrassed me by speaking of this imperial copy in Bibliomania, p. 90, as Mr. Douce was under a mistake; as the copy upon vellum in the Royal Library of France was of the date of 1509. See the Tour, vol. ii. p. 103, second edition. His own copy, of 1517, is fully described in the Typog. Antiq., vol. ii. p. 216. printed by Pynson, 1509 (i. e. the first folio). I am very apt to confound Wynkyn de Worde and Pynson together when trusting to memory; but to be certain of the matter, I must look at my Parisian notes, if I chance to have made one of the said copy. "2. My copy of Reynard the Fox, by Pynson, is very imperfect. It was Herbert who supposed it the only specimen extant. But it is not unlikely that a keen hound like yourself will unkennel such another. This you shall see as soon as I can get at it. "I have one vellum printed by Pynson. "Did I shew you the beautiful Orcharde of Syon?' (I think by Wynkyn, not Pynson). I should like to go with you to the Sion Dames, at Walworth, with this book in our hands, and compare their crowns of thorns with the portrait of the abbess in the book. I have not many Pynsons, but they are all marked in my Herbert, which you will also want again. "3. I have two or three Julian Notarys. One, a fine copy of the Golden Legend, afterwards made perfect in the life of Thomas à Becket, that had, as usual, been cut out; also a Liber Festivalis." "It is well there are no other queries at present—as I see that I have merely space left to say God bless you heartily, and prosper you in all your undertakings. "Most sincerely yours, F. Donce "P. S. ELLIS promised to come down here. I wish you would come with him-giving a day's notice, that I may not be absent. If either of you be a gig-man, it may be very easily and pleasantly accomplished, being one and a half hour's drive; and remember that Tuesdays and Fridays are always fish-days-not Elizabethan, with nothing besides; |