literary taste served him well in making his collection of books, and nearly all his volumes displayed wonderful skill in rich bindings. In old play-wrights, such as Shakespeare, Jonson, Massinger, Beaumont and Fletcher, and the other famous ones of that glorious age in literature--The Elizabethan--Mr. Peters's library was ample. Indeed, in works of this class no finer collection existed in the city. And in poetry which exhibited the rarest thoughts of the bards, in the works of such poets as Milton, Chaucer, Spenser, Dryden, Pope and Clough, Mr. Peters's shelves contained a perfect mine of wealth. His collection of pamphlets, the labour of thirty years, was unique and full. He had the whole of the famous Connolly and Wilmot controversy, the scattered papers of the late Dr. Gray, the Maturin pamphlets, the Colenso pamphlets, the notes on the Lost Tribes of Israel, and a thousand others, neatly and carefully put away in cases specially prepared for them. Those are all gone, and not a fragment remains. The gorgeous library of John Boyd, Esq., of Queen Square, with its enormous collection of works belonging to modern literature, its rare list of old books, its magnificent sets of presentation volumes from the authors, its numberless volumes that come from the publishers to Mr. Boyd as gifts, were swept away in an instant. The books in Mr. Boyd's cases were a reflex of the owner's taste and judgment. He had not a poor book among the whole. The entire range of English and American essayists, the whole course of British and American poetry, the cream of historical books, the ripest thoughts of the philosopher, the most delightful gems of fiction, the works of the scientists, and the great tomes of biography, clad in the most luxuriant of luxurious bindings, were the companions of Mr. Boyd's study. His lectures, common-place books, scrap-books, in fact everything which he possessed of a literary character were burned. Even the literary notes which he made from time to time in his record books during the odd moments of his too unfrequent leisure, and the bits of criticism on new poems which he occasionally made for future use on the platform and elsewhere, perished in his desk. His entire intellectual labour vanished in an hour. Mr. A. L. Palmer's splendid library with his own valuable annotations, Mr. A. A. Stockton's voluminous and admirable library, begun by his late uncle, and Mr. Chas. W. Weldon's Law and general library were destroyed before their owners could save a single book. The Rev. Dr. Watters's library, so rich in theology and biography, was burned almost entirely. Lately large additions had been made to this delightful collection. A good many of the late Judge Chipman's best books found their way here, and the most of these were lost. Rev. Mr. Stavely's books were all burned, and not one of Rev. Mr. Carey's fine collection escaped. Some of his books were very rare and high-priced. Mr.