Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Keren Vergon, Sjaani and the Online Distributed Proofreaders DE LIBRIS PROSE & VERSE BY AUSTIN DOBSON Vt Mel Os, sic Cor Melos afficit, & reficit. _Deuteromelia_. A mixture of a _Song_ doth ever adde Pleasure. BACON (_adapted_). MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON 1908 _Copyright 1908 by The Macmillan Company_ _PROLOGUE_ _LECTOR BENEVOLE!_--FOR SO THEY USED TO CALL YOU, YEARS AGO,-- I CAN'T PRETEND TO MAKE YOU READ THE PAGES THAT TO THIS SUCCEED; NOR COULD I--IF I WOULD--EXCUSE THE WAYWARD PROMPTINGS OF THE MUSE AT WHOSE COMMAND I WROTE THEM DOWN. I HAVE NO HOPE TO "PLEASE THE TOWN." I DID BUT THINK SOME FRIENDLY SOUL (NOT ILL-ADVISED, UPON THE WHOLE!) MIGHT LIKE THEM; AND "TO INTERPOSE A LITTLE EASE," BETWEEN THE PROSE, SLIPPED IN THE SCRAPS OF VERSE, THAT THUS THINGS MIGHT BE LESS MONOTONOUS. THEN, _LECTOR,_ BE _BENEVOLUS!_ [_The Author desires to express his thanks to Lord Northcliffe, Messrs. Macmillan and Co., Messrs. Smith, Elder and Co., Mr. William Heinemann, and Messrs. Virtue and Co., for kind permission to reprint those pieces in this volume concerning which no specific arrangements were made on their first appearance in type._] CONTENTS Prologue On Some Books And Their Associations An Epistle To An Editor Bramston's "Man Of Taste" The Passionate Printer To His Love M. Rouquet On The Arts The Friend Of Humanity And The Rhymer The Parent's Assistant A Pleasant Invective Against Printing Two Modern Book Illustrators--I. Kate Greenaway A Song Of The Greenaway Child Two Modern Book Illustrators--Ii. Mr. Hugh Thomson Horatian Ode On The Tercentenary Of "Don Quixote" The Books Of Samuel Rogers Pepys' "Diary" A French Critic On Bath A Welcome From The "Johnson Club" Thackeray's "Esmond" A Miltonic Exercise Fresh Facts About Fielding The Happy Printer Cross Readings--And Caleb Whitefoord The Last Proof General Index _ILLUSTRATIONS_ * THE OTTER HUNT IN THE "COMPLEAT ANGLER." From an unpublished pen-drawing by Mr. Hugh Thomson _Frontispiece_ *GROUP OF CHILDREN. From the original pen-drawing by Kate Greenaway for _The Library,_ 1881 *PENCIL-SKETCHES, by the same (No. 1) *PENCIL-SKETCH, by the same (No. 2) *PENCIL-SKETCHES, by the same (No. 3) *PENCIL-SKETCH, by the same (No. 4) THE BROWN BOOK-PLATE. From the original design by Mr. Hugh Thomson in the possession of Mr. Ernest Brown *SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY AT THE ASSIZES. From a first rough pencil-sketch, by the same, for _Days with Sir Roger de Coverley,_ 1886 PEN-SKETCHES, by the same, on the Half-Title of the _Ballad of Beau Brocade,_ 1892. From the originals in the possession of Mr. A. T.A. Dobson *PEN-SKETCH (TRIPLET), by the same, on a Flyleaf of _Peg Woffington,_ 1899 EVELINA AND THE BRANGHTONS, by the same. From the Cranford _Evelina,_ 1903 LADY CASTLEWOOD AND HER SON, by the same. From the Cranford _Esmond_, 1905