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-And as for the gratification of seeing the names of living Printers at the foot of the Title-page, - how languidly, how deadly, must his eye repose upon these, when transferred from those of CAXTON, TOURNOUR, and WYNKYN DE WORDE!-thrice happy Typographers, whose departed Memories have been recalled to nobler life, merely by the ages that have gathered over your graves, - and, together with the Authors, whom your types alone eternize, have thus sociably rotted into freshness! - Hail, and welcome! venerable volumes, which are thus victoriously shaking off the sleep of a long enchantment!-which, though ye were lame, and crazy, and decrepit, ere our great-great-grandfathers were weaned, are now beheld to run, or fly, - - - the very larks, and cent edes, of the Press!

Should the Objector still insist upon the actual difficulty of making one's way through a type so impassable as that which we have described, I have only to remind him of the leading distinction, so often laid down, between the Reader, and the Collector, in their affairs with books; and to say, that as the latter takes but a bird's-eye view of a whole field of page, though the former may be so inquisitive as to pore through every furrow, this formidable difficulty turns out to be a bug-bear, as I am a little ashamed of having been at the pains of shewing. - But I have -too long ventured my foot within these hallowed precincts: - I make my prostration, and retire.

I HAVE now presented the offering of a zealous admirer, though a feeble Panegyrist, to the noble Body of Book-Collectors. One other tribute, tending to the still higher advancement of their fame and felicity, remains. May the Idea which fills my imagination but be fostered into prosperous reality, - and the self-applauding " vixi!" will never have been more exultingly pronounced, than by him who was inspired to conceive it!

Perfect originality in any project for general, or particular benefit, it is now, perhaps, too late in the long history of man, to hope with reason. In the great object with which I now teem, I am, in part, forestalled. To the

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active, and enlightened spirit of the present times, we are already indebted for four literary "INSTITUTIONS." - I am ready with Proposals for a fifth; an INSTITUTION, for Young Book-COLLECTORS, whom, in their combined capacity, I would call THE COLLECTORIAT.-The scite, and dimensions, of the future Edifice, are points which it would be obviously needless to bring into view, until it be seen whether the great object to which they would have reference, shall be encouraged by the Parties concerned in it.

I, at present, restrict myself to the literary ends of my speculation; and these are, generally, that there be erected a Seminary, or College, for the instruction of those youths, who were blessed by Nature with the requisite rage for book-collecting, but cursed by fortune with the denial of fit opportunities for venting it.

Over this College, I, of course, propose, that well qualified, thorough-bred Collectors, be placed, who should attend at stated hours, for the purpose of giving lectures, theoretical, as well as practical, to the Students. I further propose, that they be empowered to grant the two first Degrees, as they are termed at the Universities; - those who have thus graduated, to bear, as their literary Additions, the letter B. or M. (Bachelor, or Master,) prefixed to one, or more, of the letters, which will be shewn in the forms here following;I will take B. as an example, and explain, as I proceed: - B. L. P. C. (Bachelor of Large Paper Copies.) — B. U. C. (Ditto of Uncut Copies.)-B.I. C. (Ditto of Illustrated Copies.) -B. U. omitting the C. to prevent confusion with the second instance - (Ditto of Unique Copies.)-B. V. C. (Ditto of Vellum Copies.) -B. F. E. (Ditto of First Editions.)-B. T. E. (Ditto of True Editions.)-B. B. L. (Ditto of Black Letter.) - in which last faculty, (and in which alone,) the Students to proceed to the degree of Doctor.

The Students are here supposed, for the sake of perspicuity, to have followed some one of the above studies, exclusively of the rest: but, as so limited a measure of ambition is not, for a moment, to be really dreaded, I have only to notice, that such as shall have passed honourable examinations in any of the other branches, will be privileged to superadd

the characteristic Letters which belong to them.

In further exposition of my plan, I propose, that the Great Room in which the Students are to assemble, be portioned into eight Divisions, respectively appropriated to the study of the eight liberal Arts above enumerated, and conveniently furnished with shelves, for the reception of books, and other articles essential to a complete literary, or scientific apparatus, for the use of the several classes of scholars.

With respect to the shelves above-mentioned, they would be amply, and richly stocked by the Professors, with specimens, from their own collections, of all that is "curious,"-" rare,"—" precious," -" unique," and, generally, inaccessible.

Such is my faint outline of a noble, though as yet uncreated, object: - such is the bare skeleton, which I trust it is reserved for me to see strutting with the halest flesh, and richest blood. In the painful interval between the conception, and the birth, of such an establishment, let me seem to transport myself, into my edifice, which, at present, alas! has