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THINK OF WHAT YOU HAVE LEFT UNDONE.

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others, should remember that the great object of remark is human life. Every nation has some thing peculiarin its Manufactures, its Works of Genius, its Medicines, its Agriculture, its Customs, and its Policy. He only is a usuful traveller, who brings home (1) something by which his country may be benefited (2); who procures some supply (3) of Want, or some mitigation (4) of Evil which may enable his readers to compare their condition with that of others, to improve it whenever it is worse, and, whenever it is better, to enjoy it.

THINK OF WHAT YOU HAVE LEFT UNDONE.

He that compares what he has done, with what he has left undone, will feel the effect which must always follow the comparison of imagination with reality; he will look with contempt on his own unimportance, and wonder to what purpose (5) he came into the world: he will repine (6) that he shall leave behind him no evidence of his having been (7); that he has added nothing to the system of life, but has glided from Youth to Age among the crowd without any effort for distinction.

(1) To bring home, rapporter chez soi. (2) To be benefited, profiter.

(5) Supply, secours, renfort.

(4) Mitigation, amélioration.

(5) To what purpose, à quel but, pourquoi. (6) To repine, regretter.

(7) Of his having been, de son existence.

THE BIBLIOMANIA.

A passion for collecting (1) books is not always a passion for literature. The Bibliomania, or the collecting an enormous heap (2) of books without intelligent (5) curiosity, has, since libraries have existed, infected weak minds, who imagine that they themselves acquire knowledge when they keep it on their shelves (4). Their motley (5) libraries have been called the mad-houses (6) of the human mind; and again, the tomb of books when the possessor will not communicate them, and coffins them up (7) in the cases of his library. Some collectors (8) place all their fame on the view of a splendid library (9), where volumes arrayed in all the pʊmp of lettering, silk linings (10), triple gold bands (11) and tinted leather, are locked up in cases, and secured from the vulgar hands of the mere reader (12), dazzling our

(1) To collect, ramasser, rassembler.

(2) A heap, un tas.

(5) Intelligent, spirituel.

(4) Shelves, pluriel de shelf, tablette, rayon de bibliothèque.

(5) Motley, mêlé, varié, mal choisi.

(6) Mad-house, hôpital des fous, Charenton.

(7) To coffin up, renfermer.

(8) Collectors, qui ramassent.

(9) Library, bibliothèque. Le mot français librairie se dit en anglais bookseller's.

(10) Linings, doublures, garnitures.

(11) Gold bands, nerfs dorés.

(12) The mere reader, le simple lecteur, qui s'occupe à lire les livres sans faire attention à leur extérieur.

POVERTY OF THE LEARNED.

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eyes like eastern beauties peering (1) through their jealousies!

Fortunate are those who only consider a book for the utility and pleasure they may derive from its possession! Those students who, though they know much, still thirst to know more, may require this vast sea of books; yet in that sea they may suffer many shipwrecks. Great collections of books are subject to certain accidents besides the damp, the worms and the rats; one not less common, is that of the borrowers, not to say a word of the purloiners (2).

POVERTY OF THE LEARNED.

The great Tasso, author of Jerusalem Delivered, was reduced to such a dilemma (5), that he was obliged to borrow a crown from a friend to subsist through the week (4). He alludes to his distress in a pretty sonnet, which he addresses to his cat, entreating her to assist him during the night with the lustre of her eyes, "Non avendo candele per iscrivere i suoi versi ! Having no candle to see to write his verses!

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(1) To peer, regarder furtivement,

(2) Purloiners, qui prennent sans en demander la permission.

(3) Dilemma, embarras.

(4) Through the week, durant la semaine.

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DESTRUCTION OF BOOKS.

The Caliph Omar proclaimed throughout the kingdom, at the taking (1) of Alexandria, that the Koran contained every thing that was useful to believe, and to know he therefore ordered all the books in the Alexandrian library to be distributed to the masters of the baths amounting to 4000, to be used in heating their stoves (2) during a period of six months.

PERSEVERANCE AND MISFORTUNE.

About the year 1700, Hudde, an opulent burgomaster of Middleburgh, animated solely by literary curiosity, devoted himself and his fortune to the acquisition of knowledge. He went to China to instruct himself in the language, and in whatever was remarkable in this singular people. He acquired the skill of a mandarine in that difficult language, nor did the form of his Dutch face undeceive (3) the physiognomists of China. He succeeded (4) to the dignity of mandarine; he travelled through the provinces under this character (5), and returned to Europe with a collection of observations, the cherished labour of thirty years, but lost them all by shipwreck on the coast.

(1) At the taking, à la prise.

(2) Stoves, poêles.

(3) To undeceive, détromper, désabuser.

(4) To succeed. Quand ce mot est suivi de la préposition to, ou d'un nom ou pronom, il signifie succéder; autrement on l'emploie dans le sens de réussir.

(5) Under this character, en cette qualité.

EARLY PRINTING.

LOSS OF A LIBRARY,

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It

The great Pinellian library, after the death of its illustrious possessor, was to be conveyed to Naples. filled three vessels. They were pursued by corsairs, and one of the vessels was taken; but the pirates finding nothing on board but books, threw them all into the sea. Such was the fate of a great portion of this famous library. National libraries have often perished at sea in consequence of conquerors transporting them into their own kingdoms; robbers by wholesale (1).

EARLY PRINTING.

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The tradition of the Devil and Dr. Faustus was derived from the odd (2) circumstance under which the Bibles of the first printer, FUST, appeared to the world. When he had discovered this new art, and printed off (5) a considerable number of copies (4) of the Bible, imitate those which were commonly sold in MS. (5), he undertook the sale of them at Paris. It was his interest to conceal this discovery, and to pass off (6) his printed copies for MSS. But as he was enabled to sell his Bibles at sixty crowns, while the others scribes (7) demanded

(1) By wholesale, en gros.
(2) Odd, singulier, bizarre.
(3) To print off, imprimer, tirer.

(4) Copies, exemplaires.

(5) MS., abrégé de manuscript, manuscrit.

(6) To pass off, faire passer.

(7) Scribes, écrivains.

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