"Nay, Lisardo, I speak nothing but the truth. In book-reputation, Atticus unites all the activity of De Witt and Lomanie, with the retentiveness of Magliabechi and the learning of Le Long.[204] And yet--he has his peccant part." [Footnote 204: The reader will be pleased to turn for one minute to pages 49, 85, 86, ante.] LIS. Speak, I am anxious to know. "Yes, Lisardo; although what Leichius hath said of the library attached to the senate-house of Leipsic be justly applicable to his own extraordinary collection[205]--yet ATTICUS doth sometimes sadly err. He has now and then an ungovernable passion to possess more copies of a book than there were ever parties to a deed, or stamina to a plant: and therefore I cannot call him a duplicate or triplicate collector. His best friends scold--his most respectable rivals censure--and a whole 'mob of gentlemen' who think to collect 'with ease,' threaten vengeance against--him, for this despotic spirit which he evinces; and which I fear nothing can stay or modify but an act of parliament that no gentleman shall purchase more than two copies of a work; one for his town, the other for his country, residence." [Footnote 205: Singularis eius ac propensi, in iuvandam eruditionem studii insigne imprimis monumentum exstat, Bibliotheca instructissima, sacrarium bonae menti dicatum, in quo omne, quod transmitti ad posteritatem meretur, copiose reconditum est. _e [Transcriber's Note: De] Orig. et Increment. Typog. Lipsiens. Lips. An. Typog._ sec. iii., sign. 3.] PHIL. But does he atone for his sad error by being liberal in the loan of his volumes? "Most completely so, Philemon. This is the 'pars melior' of every book collector, and it is indeed the better part with Atticus. The learned and curious, whether rich or poor, have always free access to his library-- His volumes, open as his heart, Delight, amusement, science, art, To every ear and eye impart. His books, therefore, are not a stagnant reservoir of unprofitable water, as are those of PONTEVALLO'S; but like a thousand rills, which run down from the lake on Snowdon's summit, after a plentiful fall of rain, they serve to fertilize and adorn every thing to which they extend. In consequence, he sees himself reflected in a thousand mirrors: and has a right to be vain of the numerous dedications to him, and of the richly ornamented robes in which he is attired by his grateful friends." LIS. Long life to Atticus, and to all such book heroes! Now pray inform me who is yonder gentleman, of majestic mien and shape?--and who strikes a stranger with as much interest as Agamemnon did Priam--when the Grecian troops passed at a distance in order of review, while the Trojan monarch and Helen were gossipping with each other on the battlements of Troy!