Printed bookes he contemnes, as a novelty of this latter age; but a manuscript he pores on everlastingly1; especially if the cover be all moth-eaten, and the dust make a parenthesis2 between every syllable3.
MICO-COSMOGRAPHIE, 1628.
The squire4 receives great sympathy and support in his antiquated5 humours from the parson, of whom I made some mention on my former visit to the Hall, and who acts as a kind of family chaplain. He has been cherished by the squire almost constantly since the time that they were fellow-students at Oxford6; for it is one of the peculiar7 advantages of these great universities that they often link the poor scholar to the rich patron, by early and heartfelt ties, that last through life, without the usual humiliations of dependence8 and patronage9. Under the fostering protection of the squire, therefore, the little parson has pursued his studies in peace. Having lived almost entirely10 among books, and those, too, old books, he is quite ignorant of the world, and his mind is as antiquated as the garden at the Hall, where the flowers are all arranged in formal beds, and the yew-trees clipped into urns11 and peacocks.
His taste for literary antiquities12 was first imbibed13 in the Bodleian Library at Oxford; where, when a student, he passed many an hour foraging14 among the old manuscripts. He has since, at different times, visited most of the curious libraries in England, and has ransacked15 many of the cathedrals. With all his quaint16 and curious learning, he has nothing of arrogance17 or pedantry18; but that unaffected earnestness and guileless simplicity20 which seem to belong to the literary antiquary.
He is a dark, mouldy little man, and rather dry in his manner: yet, on his favourite theme, he kindles21 up, and at times is even eloquent22. No fox-hunter, recounting his last day's sport, could be more animated23 than I have seen the worthy24 parson, when relating his search after a curious document, which he had traced from library to library, until he fairly unearthed25 it in the dusty chapter-house of a cathedral. When, too, he describes some venerable manuscript, with its rich illuminations, its thick creamy vellum, its glossy26 ink, and the odour of the cloisters27 that seemed to exhale28 from it he rivals the enthusiasm of a Parisian epicure29, expatiating30 on the merits of a Perigord pie, or a Pâté de Strasbourg.
His brain seems absolutely haunted with love-sick dreams about gorgeous old works in "silk linings31, triple gold bands, and tinted32 leather, locked up in wire cases, and secured from the vulgar hands of the mere33 reader;" and, to continue the happy expression of an ingenious writer, "dazzling one's eyes, like eastern beauties peering through their jealousies34."
He has a great desire, however, to read such works in the old libraries and chapter-houses to which they belong; for he thinks a black-letter volume reads best in one of those venerable chambers35 where the light struggles through dusty lancet windows and painted glass; and that it loses half its zest37 if taken away from the neighbourhood of the quaintly38 carved oaken book-case and Gothic reading-desk. At his suggestion, the squire has had the library furnished in this antique taste, and several of the windows glazed39 with painted glass, that they may throw a properly tempered light upon the pages of their favourite old authors.
The parson, I am told, has been for some time meditating40 a commentary on Strutt, Brand, and Douce, in which he means to detect them in sundry41 dangerous errors in respect to popular games and superstitions42; a work to which the squire looks forward with great interest. He is also a casual contributor to that long-established repository of national customs and antiquities, the Gentleman's Magazine, and is one of those that every now and then make an inquiry43 concerning some obsolete44 customs or rare legend; nay45, it is said that several of his communications have been at least six inches in length. He frequently receives parcels by coach from different parts of the kingdom, containing mouldy volumes and almost illegible46 manuscripts; for it is singular what an active correspondence is kept up among literary antiquaries, and how soon the fame of any rare volume, or unique copy, just discovered among the rubbish of a library, is circulated among them. The parson is more busy than common just now, being a little flurried by an advertisement of a work, said to be preparing for the press, on the mythology47 of the middle ages. The little man has long been gathering48 together all the hobgoblin tales he could collect, illustrative of the superstitions of former times; and he is in a complete fever lest this formidable rival should take the field before him.
A Bookworm
Shortly after my arrival at the Hall, I called at the parsonage, in company with Mr. Bracebridge and the general. The parson had not been seen for several days, which was a matter of some surprise, as he was an almost daily visitor at the Hall. We found him in his study, a small, dusky chamber36, lighted by a lattice window that looked into the churchyard, and was overshadowed by a yew-tree. His chair was surrounded by folios and quartos, piled upon the floor, and his table was covered w............