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 (15)
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 a 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 (20)
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 (70: 5)
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 (10)
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 (15)
prettiest grotesque works that ever I 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 on the paper a silver snuff box (20)
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 fagots[31] in the muster of a regiment. I was
wonderfully pleased with such a mixed kind of furniture (25)
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.
[31] "A person formerly hired to take the place of another at the
muster of a military company, or to hide deficiency in its number when
it was not full."--_Century Dictionary_.
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 (71: 5)
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:
Ogilby's _Virgil_.