An old book, whatever its subject or internal merits, is truly
a portion of the national history; we may imitate it and print
it in fac-simile, but we can never exactly reproduce it;
and as an historical document it should be carefully preserved.
I do not envy any man that absence of sentiment which makes some
people careless of the memorials of their ancestors, and whose blood
can be warmed up only by talking of horses or the price of hops.
To them solitude means _ennui_, and anybody's company is preferable
to their own. What an immense amount of calm enjoyment and mental
renovation do such men miss. Even a millionaire will ease
his toils, lengthen his life, and add a hundred per cent.
to his daily pleasures if he becomes a bibliophile; while to the man
of business with a taste for books, who through the day has struggled
in the battle of life with all its irritating rebuffs and anxieties,
what a blessed season of pleasurable repose opens upon him as
he enters his sanctum, where every article wafts to him a welcome,
and every book is a personal friend!
INDEX.
_Academy, The_, 23.
Acanis eruditus, 77, 78.
Acts of the Apostles, quoted, 4.
Aglossa pinguinalis, 76.
Albermarle (Duke of), portrait by Logan, 126.
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