most in vogue among amateurs. He must judge for himself whether he
will follow the fashion, by aid either of a long purse or of patient
research, or whether he will find out new paths for himself. A
scholar is rarely a rich man. He cannot compete with plutocrats who
buy by deputy. But, if he pursues the works he really needs, he may
make a valuable collection. He cannot go far wrong while he brings
together the books that he finds most congenial to his own taste and
most useful to his own studies. Here, then, in the words of the old
"sentiment," I bid him farewell, and wish "success to his
inclinations, provided they are virtuous." There is a set of
collectors, alas! whose inclinations are not virtuous. The most
famous of them, a Frenchman, observed that his own collection of bad
books was unique. That of an English rival, he admitted, was
respectable,--"mais milord se livre a des autres preoccupations!"
He thought a collector's whole heart should be with his treasures.


En bouquinant se trouve grand soulas.
Soubent m'en vay musant, a petis pas,
Au long des quais, pour flairer maint bieux livre.
Des Elzevier la Sphere me rend yure,
Et la Sirene aussi m'esmeut. Grand cas
Fais-je d'Estienne, Aide, ou Dolet. Mais Ias!
Le vieux Caxton ne se rencontre pas,
Plus qu' agneau d'or parmi jetons de cuivre,
En bouquinant!

Pour tout plaisir que l'on goute icy-bas
La Grace a Dieu. Mieux vaut, sans altercas,
Chasser bouquin: Nul mal n'en peult s'ensuivre.