I must have my literary _harem_, my _parc aux cerfs_, where my favourites await my moments of leisure and pleasure,--my scarce and precious editions, my luxurious typographical masterpieces; my Delilahs, that take my head in their lap; the pleasant story-tellers and the like; the books I love because they are fair to look upon, prized by collectors, endeared by old associations, secret treasures that nobody else knows anything about; books, in short, that I like for insufficient reasons it may be, but peremptorily, and mean to like and to love and to cherish till death us do part.... The bookcase of Delilahs, that you have paid wicked prices for, that you love without pretending to be reasonable about it, and would bag in case of fire before all the rest.--O. W. HOLMES. _The Poet at the Breakfast-Table._ BAYARD TAYLOR Dead he lay among his books! The peace of God was in his looks. As the statues in the gloom Watch o'er Maximilian's tomb; So those volumes from their shelves Watched him, silent as themselves. Ah! his hand will never more Turn their storied pages o'er: Never more his lips repeat Songs of theirs, however sweet. Let the lifeless body rest! He is gone, who was its guest; Gone, as travellers haste to leave An inn, nor tarry until eve. Traveller! in what realms afar, In what planet, in what star, In what vast, aerial space, Shines the light upon thy face? In what gardens of delight Rest thy weary feet to-night? Poet! thou, whose latest verse Was a garland on thy hearse; Thou hast sung, with organ tone, In Deukalion's life, thine own; On the ruins of the Past Blooms the perfect flower at last. Friend! but yesterday the bells Rang for thee their loud farewells; And to-day they toll for thee, Lying dead beyond the sea; Lying dead among thy books, The peace of God in all thy looks! H. W. LONGFELLOW. DEFINITIONS To afford the reader an opportunity of noting at a glance the appropriate learned terms applicable to the different sets of persons who meddle with books, I subjoin the following definitions, as rendered in d'Israeli's _Curiosities_ from the _Chasse aux Bibliographes et Antiquaires mal advisés_ of Jean-Joseph Rive: 'A bibliognoste, from the Greek, is one knowing in title-pages and colophons, and in editions; the place and year when printed; the presses whence issued; and all the minutiae of a book.' 'A bibliographe is a describer of books and other literary arrangements.' 'A bibliomane is an indiscriminate accumulator, who blunders faster than he buys, cock-brained and purse-heavy.' 'A bibliophile, the lover of books, is the only one in the class who appears to read them for his own pleasure.' 'A bibliotaphe buries his books, by keeping them under lock, or framing them in glass cases.'