illustrated work on astrology, over which he wasted much valuable time, Volney's "Ruins of Empires" and Voltaire's "Philosophical Dictionary," over which his time was worse than wasted. But the best piece of good fortune in the way of reading came to him in the discovery that one "Nathaniel Robinson, mercer," "had left his library for the use of the inhabitants of the town." It seems that this boon had been neglected or forgotten by the good folk of Gainsborough. Once known to the ardent young shoemaker, it was not neglected nor forgotten, at all events as far as he was concerned. He pounced upon it with the avidity and excited joy of a naturalist who lights upon a new or rare specimen. We must let him speak for himself in the matter, and describe this precious "find" in his own words. He says: "I was in ecstasies to find the dusty, cobwebbed shelves loaded with Hooker, and Bacon, and Cudworth, and Stillingfleet, and Locke, and Jeremy Taylor, and Tillotson, and Bates, and Bishop Hall, and Samuel Clarke, and Warburton, and Bull, and Waterland, and Bentley, and Bayle, and Ray, and Derham, and a score of other philosophers and divines, mingled with Stanley's 'History of Philosophers,' and its large full-length portraits; Ogilvy's 'Embassies to Japan and China,' with their large curious engravings; Speed's and Rapin's folio Histories of England, Collier's 'Church History,' Fuller's 'Holy War,' Foxe's 'Book of Martyrs,' the first edition, in black letter, with its odd rude plates, and countless other curiosities and valuables." [61] This seems to be a test of proficiency in the trade. Bloomfield's brother says, "Robert is a _ladies'_ shoemaker;" and stories are told of his receiving, after he became famous as a poet, many orders from the nobility for ladies' boots. Cooper now settled to reading in desperate earnest, and with something like a fixed purpose to become a scholar, and perhaps a writer, or a great political or religious orator, or, more probable than all things else--for the poetic fervor was very strong just now--a _poet_! Yet he had no very definite notions of what he was to be. All he was certain about was that he must and would study, and fit himself for some higher walk in life when the time came to enter on it. Let the reader keep this fact in mind while reading the story we have to tell of close application to study, lofty aspirations, and great attainments as a scholar. _Thomas Cooper during his shoemaker's life, in which he laid the foundation of rare scholarship, never earned more than ten shillings a week_--scarcely enough to buy food and clothes. He had not become an apprentice, and therefore the laws of the trade prevented the best masters employing him. One "Widow Hoyle, who sold her goods in the market cheap," was his only employer, so long as he remained at the trade. If he was not, in these days of lowly toil and lofty thoughts, "Checked by the scoff of Pride, by Envy's frown,"