Then we have the book-plate of Sir Thomas Hanmer, the Speaker, a bold piece of work, in the 'Simple Armorial' style, dated 1707. Hanmer was born in 1676, so that his book-plate was executed when he was in his thirty-first year--that is, six years prior to his first entry of the House of Commons, and probably before he had made much use of the library with which his name was afterwards associated, when towards the close of his life he ceased to be a man of politics and became a man of letters. He died in 1746, leaving, completed, his edition of Shakespeare's works in half a dozen volumes. With the book-plate of Sir Thomas Hanmer we may, appropriately, consider that of Sir Paul Methuen, the soldier and minister of Anne and George I., with whom Hanmer must have been frequently brought in contact. Methuen's book-plate is altogether more exceptional in style than Hanmer's; the mantling, after being blown about by a strong wind, ends regularly in tassels; curious creatures figure in the design, and the bracket, on which rests the shield, is upheld by a male and a female angel. Methuen's book-plate was engraved about 1720. Five years later we find that of John, Lord Boyle, who, though by means of the quarrel with his father he was robbed of the Boyle library, had, whilst yet a young man, a sufficient stock of volumes of his own to necessitate the use of a distinguishing mark for them. His book-plate is by John Hulett, an indifferent engraver. Matthew Prior's book-plate now claims attention; indeed, if these book-plates of celebrities were taken in strictly chronological order, it should have been considered before that of Sir Paul Methuen. In style it is early Jacobean, so that we may date it at, say, 1718, though there is nothing in the inscription--'Matthew Prior, Esq.'--to show to what particular period in the 'thin hollow-looked' man's life it belongs. But it is tempting to place it at the close of his career as a diplomatist, when he was settling down on the small country property that Harley had bought for him, and was rich on the proceeds of the subscription to his huge volume of _Occasional Poems_.