Ballads Of Books

[Pg i]

Ballads of Books

CHOSEN BY

BRANDER MATTHEWS

NEW YORK DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY

1900

Copyright, 1886

By George J. Coombes

Printed by The University Press, Cambridge, U. S. A.

[Pg ii]

[Pg iii]

To

FREDERICK LOCKER

POET AND LOVER OF BOOKS

Come and take a choice of all my library

[Pg v]

PREFATORY NOTE.

he poets have ever been lovers of books; indeed, one might ask how should a man be a poet who did not admire a treasure as precious and as beautiful as a book may be. With evident enjoyment, Keats describes

and it was a glorious folio of Beaumont and Fletcher which another English poet (whose most poetic work was done in prose) "dragged home late at night from Barker's in Covent Garden," and to pacify his conscience for the purchase of which he kept to his overworn suit of clothes for four or five weeks longer than he ought. Charles Lamb was a true bibliophile, in the earlier and more exact sense of the term; he loved his ragged volumes as he loved his fellow-men, and he was as intolerant of books that are not books [Pg vi] as he was of men who were not manly. He conferred the dukedom of his library on Coleridge, who was no respecter of books, though he could not but enrich them with his marginal notes. Southey and Lord Houghton and Mr. Locker are English poets with libraries of their own, more orderly and far richer than the fortuitous congregation of printed atoms, a mere medley of unrelated tomes, which often masquerades as The Library in the mansions of the noble and the wealthy. Shelley said that he thought Southey had a secret in every one of his books which

he was afraid the stranger might discover: but this was probably no more, and no other, than the secret of comfort, consolation, refreshment, and happiness to be found in any library by him who shall bring with him the golden key that unlocks its silent door.

Mr. Lowell has recently dwelt on the difference between literature and books: and, accepting this distinction, the editor desires to declare at once that as a whole this collection is devoted rather to books than to literature. The poems in the following pages celebrate the bric-a-brac of the one rather than the masterpieces of the other. The stanzas here garnered into one sheaf sing of books as books, of books valuable and valued for their perfection of type and page and printing,—for their beauty and for their rarity,—or for their association with some famous man or woman of the storied past

Two centuries and a half ago Drummond of Hawthornden [Pg vii] prefixed to the 'Varieties' of his friend Persons a braggart distich:—

The present collection of varieties in verse has little or naught to do with the great world and its errors: it has to do chiefly, not to say wholly, with the world of the Bookmen—the little world of the Book-lover, the Bibliophile, the Bibliomaniac—a mad world, my masters, in which there are to be found not a few poets who cherish old wine and old wood, old friends and old books, and who believe that old books are the best of old friends.

as Mr. Austin Dobson sang on the threshold of Mr. Lang's delightfully discursive little book about the 'Library.'

The editor has much pleasure in thanking the poets who have allowed him to reprint their poems in these pages; and he acknowledges a double debt of gratitude to the friends who have written poems expressly for this collection. Encouraged by their support, and remembering that he is not a contributor to his own pages, the editor ventures to conclude [Pg viii] his harmless necessary catalogue of the things contained and not contained within these covers, by quoting Herrick's address to his Book:—

BRANDER MATTHEWS. New York, November, 1886.

[Pg ix]

Proem.

[Pg xi]

Contents.

[Pg xv]

Ballads of Books

[Pg xvi]

[Pg 17]

BALLADS OF BOOKS.

THE BABY IN THE LIBRARY.

Edward D. Anderson. From 'Wide-Awake' for May, 1885.

[Pg 19]

MY BOOKS.

Francis Bennoch. From the 'Storm and Other Poems.' 1878.

[Pg 20]

THE ART OF BOOK-KEEPING.

Laman Blanchard. From his 'Poetical Works.' 1876.

[Pg 26]

IN THE LIBRARY.

Anne C. L. Botta. From her collected 'Poems.' 1882.

[Pg 28]

MY SHAKSPERE.

H. C. Bunner. Written expressly for this collection.

[Pg 31]

THE BOOKWORMS.

Burns saw a splendidly bound but sadly neglected copy of Shakspere in the Robert Burns. library of a nobleman in Edinburgh, and he wrote these lines on the ample margin of one of its pages, where they were found long after the poet's death.

[Pg 32]

CATULLUS TO HIS BOOK.

QVOI DONO LEPIDVM NOVVM LIBELLVM.

Caius Valerius Catullus. Translated by A. Lang expressly for this collection.

[Pg 33]

OLD BOOKS ARE BEST.

TO J. H. P. Beverly Chew. From the 'Critic' of March 13, 1886.

[Pg 34]

THE FORGOTTEN BOOKS.

Thomas S. Collier. Written expressly for this collection.

[Pg 36]

AN INVOCATION IN A LIBRARY.

Helen Gray Cone. From 'Oberon and Puck.' 1885.

[Pg 38]

CONCERNING THE HONOR OF BOOKS.

This sonnet, prefixed to the second edition of Florio's Montaigne, 1613, is Samuel Daniel. generally attributed to the translator, but the best critics now incline to the belief that it is by his friend, Daniel.

[Pg 39]

LINES.

Isaac D'Israeli. Imitated from Rantzau, the founder of the library at Copenhagen.

[Pg 40]

MY BOOKS.

Austin Dobson. From 'At the Sign of the Lyre.' 1885.

[Pg 42]

TO A MISSAL OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY.

Austin Dobson. From 'At the Sign of the Lyre.' 1885.

[Pg 44]

THE BOOK-PLATE'S PETITION.

BY A GENTLEMAN OF THE TEMPLE.

Austin Dobson. Published originally in 'Notes and Queries,' January 8, 1881.

Cheltenham, Sept. 31, 1792.

[Pg 46]

OVER THE THRESHOLD OF MY LIBRARY.

Quoted from the supplement of Dibdin's Henry Drury. 'Bibliomania,' where the original Latin lines may be found.

[Pg 47]

THE CHRYSALIS OF A BOOKWORM.

Maurice F. Egan. From 'Songs and Sonnets.' 1885.

[Pg 48]

EPIGRAM.

Evenus (the grammarian). Rendered into English by A. Lang in the 'Library.' 1881.

[Pg 49]

THE BIBLIOMANIA.

John Ferriar. "An Epistle to Richard Heber, Esq." Manchester, April, 1809.

[Pg 57]

TRIOLET TO HER HUSBAND.

F. Fertiault. Rendered into English by A. Lang in the 'Library.' 1881.

[Pg 58]

A NOOK AND A BOOK.

William Freeland. From 'A Birth Song and other Poems.' 1882.

[Pg 60]

THE SULTAN OF MY BOOKS.

There is many a true word spoken in doggerel.— Czech Folk-Song.

Edmund Gosse. Written for the present collection.

[Pg 64]

OUR BOOK-SHELVES.

Thomas Gordon Hake. From the 'State' of April 17, 1886.

[Pg 66]

TO HIS BOOK.

Robert Herrick. Prefixed to 'Hesperides.' 1648.

[Pg 67]

TO HIS BOOK.

Robert Herrick.

[Pg 68]

TO HIS BOOKS.

Imitated by Austin Dobson from the Q. Horatius Flaccus. 'Epistles,' i. 20, for the present collection.

[Pg 70]

SONNET.

Found by Mr. Alexander Ireland in Leigh Hunt. the London 'Examiner' of December 24, 1815, and not anywhere included in the poet's collected works.

[Pg 71]

MY BOOKS.

Willis Fletcher Johnson. From the Boston 'Transcript.'

[Pg 73]

TO MY BOOKSELLER.

This is from the third of the poet's books Ben Jonson. of epigrams. Bucklersbury was the street most affected by grocers and apothecaries.

[Pg 74]

TO SIR HENRY GOODYERE.

This is the eighty-sixth of the poet's first book of epigrams, and, like its immediate Ben Jonson. predecessor, it was addressed to a gentleman bound in bonds of friendship to many of the men of genius of his time.

[Pg 75]

IN THE ALBUM OF LUCY BARTON.

Charles Lamb. Written in 1824 for the daughter of his friend Bernard Barton.

[Pg 77]

BALLADE OF THE BOOK-HUNTER.

A. Lang. From 'Ballades in Blue China.' 1880.

ENVOY.

[Pg 79]

BALLADE OF TRUE WISDOM.

A. Lang. From 'Ballades in Blue China.' 1880.

ENVOY.

[Pg 81]

BALLADE OF THE BOOKMAN'S PARADISE.

A. Lang. From 'Rhymes à la Mode.' 1885.

ENVOY.

[Pg 83]

THE ROWFANT BOOKS.

Ballade en guise de rondeau, written for A. Lang. the catalogue of Mr. Frederick Locker's books.

ENVOY.

[Pg 85]

THE ROWFANT LIBRARY.

A. Lang. Written for the catalogue of Mr. Frederick Locker's books.

[Pg 87]

GHOSTS IN THE LIBRARY.

A. Lang. From 'Longman's Magazine,' July, 1886.

[Pg 91]

THE BOOK BATTALION.

George Parsons Lathrop. Written for the present collection.

[Pg 93]

ON THE FLY-LEAF OF A BOOK OF OLD PLAYS.

Walter Learned. Written for the present collection.

[Pg 95]

TOO MANY BOOKS.

Robert Leighton. From 'Reuben, and Other Poems.' 1875

[Pg 97]

FROM THE FLY-LEAF OF THE ROWFANT MONTAIGNE (FLORIO, 1603).

Frederick Locker. Written for the present collection.

[Pg 98]

MY BOOKS.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Written in December, 1881.

[Pg 99]

THE SOULS OF BOOKS.

Edward Bulwer, Lord Lytton. From 'Earlier Poems.'

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

[Pg 105]

DE LIBRIS.

Cosmo Monkhouse. Written for the present collection.

[Pg 107]

EX LIBRIS.

Arthur J. Munby. Written for the present collection.

[Pg 108]

ON AN INSCRIPTION.

"Edward Danenhill: Book given him by Joseph Wise, April ye 27th, 1741," Arthur J. Munby. was the inscription in a copy of Carew's 'Poems' (1651). Written for the present collection.

[Pg 110]

TO MY BOOKS.

Caroline Norton. From the 'Dream and other Poems.' 1840.

[Pg 111]

'DESULTORY READING.'

F. M. P. From the London 'Spectator' of January 16, 1886.

[Pg 112]

THE BOOKWORM.

Thomas Parnell. Translated from the Latin of Theodore Beza.

[Pg 116]

AMONG MY BOOKS.

Samuel Minturn Peck. From 'Cap and Bells.' 1886.

[Pg 117]

A RUINED LIBRARY.

Walter Herries Pollock. Written for the present collection.

[Pg 119]

MY BOOKS.

Bryan Waller Procter. From 'An Autobiographical (Barry Cornwall.) Fragment.' 1877.

[Pg 120]

TO MY BOOKS ON PARTING WITH THEM.

The sale of the famous Roscoe library, William Roscoe. made necessary by reverses in business, took place in August and September, 1816

[Pg 121]

AMONG MY BOOKS.

Francis St. Clair-Erskine, From 'Sonnets.' 1883. Earl of Rosslyn.

[Pg 122]

THE LIBRARY.

One of the excerpts from 'Occasional Poems' John Godfrey Saxe. included in his 'Complete Poems'.

[Pg 124]

IN THE LIBRARY.

Clinton Scollard. From 'With Reed and Lyre.' 1886.

[Pg 126]

THE BOOK-HUNTER.

Frank Dempster Sherman. From the 'Century Magazine,' November, 1885.

[Pg 128]

THE LIBRARY.

Robert Southey. Written at Keswick in 1818.

[Pg 130]

PICTURE-BOOKS IN WINTER.

Robert Louis Stevenson. From 'A Child's Garden of Verses.' 1885.

[Pg 131]

COMPANIONS.

A French writer (whom I love well) speaks of three kinds of companions, men, women, and books.Sir John Davys.

Richard Henry Stoddard. From the 'Atlantic Monthly,' June, 1877.

[Pg 133]

THE BOOK OF LIFE.

A Bibliographical Melody, printed in Richard Thomson. 1820 at the press of John Johnson, as a gift to the members of the Roxburghe Club.

[Pg 135]

ON CERTAIN BOOKS.

Charles Tennyson Turner. From 'Sonnets.' 1864.

[Pg 136]

TO HIS BOOKS.

Henry Vaughan. From 'Silex Scintillans: Sacred Poems and Pious Ejaculations.' 1678.

[Pg 138]

LITERATURE AND NATURE.

Samuel Waddington. Written for the present collection.

[Pg 139]

THE LIBRARY.

John Greenleaf Whittier. Sung at the opening of the Library at Haverhill, Mass.

[Pg 141]

THE COUNTRY SQUIRE.

Tomas Yriarte. An anonymous translation of one of the 'Literary Fables.'

[Pg 144]

OLD BOOKS.

From the appendix of 'How to Read Anon. a Book in the Best Way.' New York, n. d.

[Pg 147]

Appendix

THE LIBRARY BY GEORGE CRABBE

[Pg 148]

[Pg 149]

THE LIBRARY.

In want and danger, the unknown poet sent this poem to Edmund George Crabbe. Burke, who saw its merit, befriended its author, and procured its publication.

[Pg 173]

A Final Word.

THE COLLECTOR TO HIS LIBRARY.

Austin Dobson.

Footnotes:

Footnotes for Table of Contents:

[1] The poems thus marked were written or translated for the present collection.

Footnotes for "The Bibliomania":

[2] Sages, Count Hamilton, in the 'Quatre Facardins,' and Mr. M. Lewis, in his 'Tales of Romance.'

[3] See the 'Opulentia Sordida,' in his 'Colloquies,' where he complains feelingly of the spare Venetian diet.

[4] It may be said that Quintilian recommends margins; but it is with a view to their being occasionally occupied: Debet vacare etiam locus, in quo notentur quæ scribentibus solent extra ordinem, id est ex aliis quam qui sunt in manibus loci, occurrere. Irrumpunt enim optimi nonnunquam Sensus, quos neque inserere oportet, neque differre tutum est. 'Instit.' lib. x. c. 3. He was therefore no Margin-man, in the modern sense.

[5] Fletcher. A translator of Martial. A very bad Poet, but exceedingly scarce.

[7] 'Faërie Queene.'

[8] Aristophanes.

[9] See his exquisite hymn to the Nightingale in his Ornithes.

[10] Gray.

[11] The fire of London.

[12] Cloud-compelling Jove.—Pope's 'Iliad.'

[14] The gallant Veres and one-eyed Ogle. Three fine heads, for the sake of which, the beautiful and interesting 'Commentaries' of Sir Francis Veres have been mutilated by the Collectors of English portraits.

[15] Generally known by the name of James Nicius Erythræus. The allusion is to his 'Pinacotheca.'

[16] 'Les Serées de Gillaume Bouchet,' a book of uncommon rarity. I possess a handsome copy by the kindness of Colonel Stanley.

[17] 'Les Regrets,' by Joachim du Bellay, contain a most amusing and instructive account of Rome in the sixteenth century.

[18] 'Pasquillorum Tomi duo.'

Footnotes for "The Rowfant Library":

[20] During the General Election, November, 1885.

Footnotes for "Ghosts in the Library":

[21] 'Histoire des Intrigues Amoureuses de Molière et de celles de sa femme. (A la Sphère.) A Francfort, chez Frédéric Arnaud, MDCXCVII.' This anonymous tract has actually been attributed, among others, to Racine. The copy referred to is marked with a large N in red, with an eagle's head.

[22] 'The Lady of the Lake,' 1810. 'The Lay of the Last Minstrel,' 1806. "To Mrs. Robert Laidlaw. Peel. From the Author."

[23] 'Dictys Cretensis.' Apud Lambertum Roulland. Lut. Paris. 1680. In red morocco, with the arms of Colbert.

[24] 'L. Annæi Senecæ Opera Omnia.' Lug. Bat., apud Elzevirios. 1649. With book-plate of the Duke of Sussex.

[25] 'Stratonis Epigrammata.' Altenburgi, 1764. Straton bound up in one volume with Epictetus! From the Beckford library.

[26] 'Opera Helii Eobani Hessi.' Yellow morocco, with the first arms of De Thou. Include a poem addressed "Lange, decus meum." Quantity of penultimate "Eobanus" taken for granted, metri gratiâ.

[27] 'La Journée du Chrétien.' Coutances, 1831. With inscription, "Léon Gambetta. Rue St. Honoré. Janvier 1, 1848."

[28] Villoison's 'Homer.' Venice, 1788. With Tessier's ticket and Schlegel's book-plate.

[29] 'Les Essais de Michel.' Seigneur de Montaigne. "Pour François le Febvre de Lyon, 1695." With autograph of Gul. Drummond, and cipresso e palma.

[30] "The little old foxed Molière," once the property of William Pott, unknown to fame.

Footnotes for "The Souls of Books":

[31] 'Comus.'

[32] 'Gulliver's Travels.'

[33] Plut. in 'Vit. Cim.'