EYE. Alas! my bookcase can never hold such a vast pile, and The bed will not have B. I bid fifteen shillings,* and take off the book. S. You take it off? Pray calculate first what is the strength of your puny shoulders, and what weight your arms may decline to lift. For such a burden as this no one man's neck is sufficient. It would make Milo's back ache, or Turnus's, or Diomede's. D. At what rate will you hire a porter? or where will you find one? For you have need of Atlas or Hercules. All one can say is, that if Alcides does not fall under the burden, Atlas will not fall.‡ W. Three pound, once; three, twice; three-the rascally shame! Thrice has sounded, etc. See! next presents himself Berkenhaubius. Who gives two pounds? -there are two volumes. S. If there is any old woman who has the charge of aged paupers, who has to make cakes and wants paper to lay under them; if anyone needs bags for sprats or pepper;§ he who loves to make paper kites, or who has mackerel to sell, let him buy thee, Berkenhaubius !|| "Quindenos numero solidos." This is an error, unless it is intended as an explanation. The original tract reads: "Argenti numero pondo tria." "Pondo" is used as an indeclinable noun- a pound (in weight). Probably "argenti" merely means of "money," and the bid is one of £3. † Juv. Sat., x. 40. This may be a sly cut at the ponderous and ambitious English Atlas of Moses Pitt, the first volume of which was printed at the Theatre in 1680, and the fourth, which only took the reader as far as the Netherlands, in 1682. It brought the unfortunate publisher to the Fleet Prison.-Book-Lore, ii., p. 5. § Cf. Hor. Ep., ii. 1, 270. If this was the general sentiment, it might account for the rarity of this author, whom the present writer has been unable to trace in the British Museum, or in any other catalogue or JUNE, 1886. I D. Although I think it too much, I will give fourpence, for my broken windows at home let in the sun and wind; and so this paper will be useful to stop cracks and patch up scars. W. Fourpence to him, once; twice, fourpence. B. I say fivepence. W. Five, once; twice, fivepence; oh, bad luck! Thrice has sounded, etc. Here is Julius Cæsar for you. Who is reprobate, and who elect: what class of men will be condemned to Orcus, whom Heaven expects as its occupants-this book will teach you. B. And dost thou, O Cæsar, follow the doctrines of Calvin? Hast thou, though a citizen of Rome, and born in the midst of the Suburra, at last turned out a fanatic, and one of the Puritans? But I remember-for I was always fond of this history-(this, my most favourite author, sleeps with me, goes out with me, wherever I travel, and whatever I do. He is in my pocket now)—I remember, I was saying, how Cæsar fought a battle before the Lake of Geneva; and at that time, perhaps (though the circumstances, but lately read, have escaped me just now), Calvin came across him, dropped into the Prince's ear his secret venom, and poisoned his mind with lies.* S. Oh that the fates had granted me the ribs of Democritus,† or of Millington! Whose sides are strong enough? who, with common lungs, can stand such fits of laughter? He who connects the era of Cæsar with that of Calvin, might as soon put a wild boar in the river and a dolphin in the wood,‡ might yoke Deucalion§ to James, and Pyrrha to Mary. B. However that might be, Cæsar's very name is so delightful to me, that I am quite willing to give elevenpence. W. Eleven, once; eleven, twice; who says twelve? Thrice has sounded, etc. Here is a book, beautifully bound, gorgeous in vermilion. C. Never mind the name; its own purple will sell the book.|| biographical dictionary within his reach. Possibly, however, the name may be a mongrel equivalent for Berkenhead (head in German being haupt). If the person intended is Sir John Birkenhead, the "waste paper" was no doubt Mercurius Aulicus, of which he was for some time the principal writer. His separate publications, if collected, could scarcely make up two volumes. On current opinion about him at this date see the Dictionary of National Biography, s. v. "Birkenhead." It is possible that this extraordinary description of Julius Cæsar may have arisen from a confusion in the auctioneer's mind between him and his less-famous namesake, the Master of Requests, in Elizabeth's reign. Sir Julius Cæsar (Adelmar) held, among other dignities, the Mastership of St. Katharine's Hospital, and erected there a famous pulpit, which cost £250, and might argue his zeal for the reformed religion, though he was most noted for profuse charity. Of this, indeed, there is other evidence: see No. V. of the Bib. Topog. Britan., p. 36, and Rose's Biog. Dict. Sir Charles Cæsar, contesting Herts in 1690, received an equal number of votes with Ralph Freman, who was declared duly returned, since Cæsar's majority consisted of Quakers.Cussans's Herts, "Broadwater Hund." p. 128. †The laughing philosopher. The Latin is "Idem aprum silvis, fluviis Delphina." The order of "silvis" and "fluviis " should evidently be reversed. See Hor. Ep. ad Pis., 30, " Delphinum silvis ad pingit, fluctibus aprum." § "Deucalion," the mythical Noah. Ovid's Met., i. 350. Juv. Sat., vii. 135. |