Produced by Julia Miller, Stephanie Eason, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) BY-WAYS IN BOOK-LAND. BY-WAYS IN BOOK-LAND Short Essays on Literary Subjects BY WM. DAVENPORT ADAMS AUTHOR OF 'DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE,' ETC. '_Excursusque breves tentat._' 'GEORGICS,' iv. 194. LONDON ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW 1888 TO MY FATHER, W. H. DAVENPORT ADAMS, THIS LITTLE VOLUME Is Affectionately Inscribed. _In the following pages, the writer for the most part deals with small subjects in an unelaborate manner. He leaves the highways of literature, and strays into the fields and lanes, picking here a flower and there a leaf, and not going far at any time. There is no endeavour to explore with system, or to extend any excursion beyond a modest ramble. The author wanders at haphazard into paths which have attracted him, and along which, he hopes, the reader may be willing to bear him company._ CONTENTS. PAGE PAPER-KNIFE PLEASURES 1 RUSKIN AS POET 10 ELECTIONS IN LITERATURE 19 FAMILIAR VERSE 28 SHAKESPEARE'S ENGLAND 36 HEREDITY IN SONG 44 STINGS FOR THE STINGY 51 DIALOGUES OF THE DEAD 59 SERMONS IN FLOWERS 66 'DON QUIXOTE' IN ENGLAND 74 BEDSIDE BOOKS 83 THEIR MUCH SPEAKING 91 PEERS AND POETRY 99 THE PRAISE OF THAMES 107 ENGLISH EPIGRAPHS 114 THE 'SEASON' IN SONG 123 THE 'RECESS' IN RHYME 131 JAQUES IN LOVE 139 MOCKING AT MATRIMONY 148 PARSON POETS 156 THE OUTSIDES OF BOOKS 164 THE NOT IMPOSSIBLE SHE 172 NONSENSE VERSES 180 SINGLE-SPEECH HAMILTONS 188 DRAMATIC NOMENCLATURE 196 PUNS AND PATRONYMICS 203 'YOURS TRULY' 209 POSTSCRIPTS 217 _BY-WAYS IN BOOK-LAND_ PAPER-KNIFE PLEASURES. One is for ever hearing enough and to spare about old books and those who love them. There is a whole literature of the subject. The men themselves, from Charles Lamb downwards, have over and over again described their ecstasies--with what joy they have pounced upon some rare edition, and with what reverence they have ever afterwards regarded it. It is some time since Mr. Buchanan drew his quasi-pathetic picture of the book-hunter, bargaining for his prize, 'With the odd sixpence in his hand, And greed in his gray eyes;' having, moreover, in his mind's eye as he walked 'Vistas of dusty libraries Prolonged eternally.'