Books; Books -- Literary collections; Books in literature
Some months ago, my friend Sir Roger, being in the country, enclosed a
letter to me, directed to a certain lady whom I shall here call by the
name of Leonora, and as it contained matters of consequence, desired me
to deliver it to her with my own hand. Accordingly I waited upon her
ladyship pretty early in the morning, and was desired by her woman to
walk into her lady's library, till such time as she was in readiness to
receive me. The very sound of a lady's library gave me a great curiosity
to see it; and, as it was some time before the lady came to me, I had an
opportunity of turning over a great many of her books, which were ranged
together in a very beautiful order. At the end of the folios (which were
finely bound and gilt) were great jars of china placed one above another
in a very noble piece of architecture. The quartos were separated from
the octavos by a pile of smaller vessels, which rose in a delightful
pyramid. The octavos were bounded by tea-dishes of all shapes, colours,
and sizes, which were so disposed on a wooden frame, that they looked
like one continued pillar indented with the finest strokes of sculpture,
and stained with the greatest variety of dyes. That part of the library
which was designed for the reception of plays and pamphlets, and other
loose papers, was enclosed in a kind of square, consisting of one of the
prettiest grotesque works that I ever saw, and made up of scaramouches,
lions, monkeys, mandarins, trees, shells, and a thousand other odd
figures in china ware. In the midst of the room was a little japan
table, with a quire of gilt paper upon it, and upon the paper a silver
snuff-box made in the shape of a little book. I found there were several
other counterfeit books upon the upper shelves, which were carved in
wood, and served only to fill up the number, like faggots in the muster
of a regiment. I was wonderfully pleased with such a mixed kind of
furniture as seemed very suitable both to the lady and the scholar, and
did not know at first whether I should fancy myself in a grotto or in a
library.
Upon my looking into the books I found there were some few which the
lady had bought for her own use, but that most of them had been got
together, either because she had heard them praised, or because she had
seen the authors of them. Among several that I examined, I very well
remember these that follow:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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