"By Apollo!" he exclaimed, "what a splendid library! The Bishop of
Seez's, over rich in works of canonical law, is not to be compared
to this. There is no pleasanter abode in my opinion, actually the
Elysian Fields as described by Virgil. At first sight I can discover
such rare books and precious collections that I have my doubts, sir,
if any other private library prevails over this, which is inferior
in France only to the Mazarin and the Royal. I dare say, seeing all
these Greek and Latin MSS. closely pressed together in this single
corner, one may, after the Bodleian, the Ambrosian, the Laurentinian
and the Vatican also name, sir, the Asteracian. Without flattering
myself I may say that I smell truffles and books at a long distance
and I consider myself from now, to be the equal of Peiresc, of
Grolier and of Canevarius, who are the princes of bibliophiles."

"I consider myself to be over them," said M. d'Asterac quietly, "as
this library is a great deal more precious than all those you have
named. The King's Library is but an old bookshop in comparison with
mine--that is, if you do not consider the number of books only and
the quantity of blackened paper. Gabriel Naude and your Abbe Bignon,
both librarians of fame, are, compared to me, indolent shepherds of
a vile herd of sheep-like books. I concede that the Benedictines are
diligent, but they have no high spirit and their libraries reveal
the mediocrity of the souls by whom they have been collected. My
gallery, sir, is not on the pattern of others. The works I have got
together form a whole which doubtless will procure me knowledge. My
library is gnostic, oecumenic and spiritual. If all the lines traced
on those numberless sheets of paper and parchment could enter in
good order into your brain, you, sir, would know all, could do all,
would be the master of Nature, the plasmator of things, you would