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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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shadows of spiritual beings , and breathing existence . Correggio and Canova , side by side , brothers in immortality . ' ' tfie th&tovt is crackedV again stares Mv . John Bull . Pish ! you &ino * pleton , Telemachus ; xvt \ at cares he for Correggio or Canova ? You should say , 'They have cost you a great sum / tie loves to be elicited on these matters ; or , You are a fortunate man to
possess these treasures / e Why ., yes / says » e , I love to patronize * ( that is his phrase ) f the arts , as every gentleman ought whos £ fortune will enable him to afford to do so / Ha , right , right now , Telemachus ; you may elaborate safely ; you have struck
the right chord ; his drowsy soul awakened at the sound . It is he who must be the object of your admiration ; he , thfc possessor ; he , the owner of those pictures and sculptures . Correggio and Canova be d—rf I t # 7 iat were they but two onion-muncfiirig , saffron , bilious-faced Italians ! he can buy them both . Now
Eroceed onwards through that door ; within the recess is anotheraized , brass-naited , gilt-leathered , and noiseless ; no creaking , no jar ; it turns in deferential silence on its hinges . It is the portal to the sacred precincts of the library . Enter . Etow calm is every thing here ! how mildly subdued the light ! Imagination , wisdom , knowledge , thought , inspiration , beautiful intelligence in repose ; and all is in pin-breadth order ; nothing displaced , nothing
disturbed ; the position of that portfolio—the inkstand—central and rectangular , measured to their place with the accuracy of * compass and rule . Your eyes rest upon the marshalled volumesan army of spirits—and how splendid their backs and bindings ! plethoric in tooling and gilding , ( as the binders call it ;) gay as the gingerbread in a booth at Greenwich fair : do but examine the
richness of the carving of those shelves , the pilaster divisions , &c . They are all his , all Mr . John Bull ' s , who is standing beside you . ' I am the proprietor of all at which you are gazing with so much admiration / is in his thought . Approach nearer ; bring your optics within reading distance of the lettering of the tomes ; run up and down and laterally—all favourite , fashionable , well-known ,
well-bepuffed , a * id all ' standard' works . Some , too , you may see , on which enthusiasm may exhaust its essence in laudation , and yet wish for power to speak the sum of half that is due and deserved , Is Shelley there ? No . Is—or—or—or ? No—no—no ; not one whom the system excludes . Shakspeare ? Ay , ay ; he would not be English were Shakspeare not in his library . A thought flashes ; you would refer to Shakspeare for it . Look ,
there is the volume . You advance your hand ; it is upon it ; not quite . * HahT from Mr . John Bull , checks you ; he sees your hand is ungloved : such is his reverence for Shakspeare , you think , perhaps ; but he is touched with remorse a little , and permits you to draw it from the ranks , first casting a glance at your fingers in question of their need of ablution . You open tte tome ; the leaves adhere to each other ; as fresh and as free from touch is
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John Bull , Exquire , 0 / PFAeedle-HalL 711
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3 B 12
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1833, page 711, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2624/page/51/
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