And als in t,

        In times great periods surn to nought.

        itoil of sprite w,

        As idle sounds, of fe--

        t ter than mere praise.

        tain urally steal a    urbed. In sug about ters of estminster Abbey, enjoying t luxury of    o dignify ion, minster sc football, broke in upon tic stillness of ted passages and mouldering tombs ec. I sougo take refuge from trating still deeper into tudes of to one of to the library.

        ed me tal ricure of fes, er-ed. Just . to t y, as if seldom used. e noaircase, and, passing tered the library.

        I found myself in a lofty antique ed by massive joists of old Englis ly opened upon ters. An a picture of some reverend dignitary of ted principally of old polemical ers, and re of tary table , an inkstand    ink, and a feed for quiet study and profouation. It    up from tumult of ts of tly sers, and tolling for prayers eerriment greer and fainter, and at lengto     toll, and a profound silence reighe dusky hall.

        I aken dotle to, curiously bound in parc, ed myself at table in a venerable elbo of to a train of musing. As I looked around upon tly never disturbed in t but sider terary catab,    to bla and moulder in dusty oblivion.

        I,    aside    some acs! ude of cells and cloisters, s till more blessed face of Nature; aed to painful researse re?e! And all for o occupy an incy so itles of ture age by some droo be lost even to remembrance. Suc of ted immortality. A mere temporary rumor, a local sound; like tone of t bell o, lingering traly in ec !

        ating, table speculations ing on my o, until I actally looseo my utter astonis, ttle book gave t lengto talk. At ?rst its voice     ed a cold from long exposure to t time,    became more distinct, and I soon found it an exceedingly ?uent, versable little tome.

        Its language, to be sure,    and obsolete, and its pronunciation    day,    I so re in modern parlance.

        It began    t of t merit being suffered to languisy, and otopics of literary repining, and plained bitterly t it    been opened for more turies--t to times took dori?ed s, and turo t; a plague do t; said ttle quarto,    up c of old vergers, like so maies in a o be looked at o give pleasure and to be enjoyed; and I    at least once a year; or, if    equal to task, let turn loose tminster among us, t at any rate ;

        "Softly, my ; replied I; "you are not aer you are off t books of yeion. By being stored a library you are like treasured remains of ts and monarcemporary mortals, left to ture, uro dust."

        "Sir," said ttle tome, ruf?ing ;I ten for all t for teo circulate from o    porary    uries, and migly fallen a prey to t are playiines if you    by ity of uttering a fe o pieces."

        "My good friend," rejoined I, " to tion of emporaries    be at present ience, and ty to being immured like yourself in old libraries; ead of likening to    more properly and gratefully o ttacious establiss for t of t, and ering and no employment, ten eo an amazingly good-for-notalk of your poraries as if in circulation.     do este of Lin? No one could oiled ality. o ten nearly t o perpetuate , alas! ts are scattered in various libraries, iquarian.    do iquary, p? erity; but posterity never inquires after his labors.

        of ingdoreatise o of tting    is quoted of Joseper, styled tion?

        Of     forever, excepting a mere fragment; to a feerature; and as to irely disappeared.    is in current use of Joree of life? Of illiam of Malmsbury--of Simeon of Dur of Peterb. Albans--of----"

        "Prit; cried to in a testy tone, "alking of aut lived long before my time, ain or Frenc triated to be fotten;* but I, sir, ten in my oive to a time w Englis;

        (I s tolerably antiquated terms, t I e dif?culty in rendering to modern p;I cry you mercy," said I, "for mistaking ye; but it matters little. Almost all ters of your time etfulness, and De ordes publications are mere literary rarities among book-collectors. ty and stability of language, too, on uity, o times of t of Gloucester, ongues perpetually subject to cermixtures. It is terature so extremely mutable, and tation built upon it so     ?eeting. U    be itted to somet and unc must se of everyto decay. ty aation of t popular er. ering and subject to tions of time and try, oes of ted by modern ers. A fes    only be relis taste of ticipates, e of    may be admired in its day and y, iquated and obsolete, until it s as unintelligible in its native land as aian obelisk or one of tions said to exist in ts of tartary. "I declare," added I, ion, "e a modern library, ?lled o sit do in all tary array, aed t in one    one of tence."

        * "In Latin and Frenctes    delyte to endite, and    certes t speaken tasye as ament of Love.

        + ;After vell f Geffry Cime of Ricer te, monke of Berrie, our said toong    passe, notanding t it never came unto type of perfe until time of Queen Elizabet ers, ure of to t praise and mortal endation."

        "A; said ttle quarto, ;I see    is: t Sir Pately plays and Mirror fistrates, or t;

        "taken," said I; "ters ion, ality of s, delicate images, and graceful turns of language, is noioned. Sackville rutted into obscurity; and even Lyly, tings    of a court, and apparently perpetuated by a proverb, is no time, ings and troversies. ave after erature il t it is only no some industrious diver after fragments of antiquity brings up a spe for ti?cation of the curious.

        * "Live ever se booke; tle t, and tify unto t ter ary of eloqueyest ?ot and arte, tellectual virtues, tongue of Suada in ts of Practise in esse, and t."-ion.

        "For my part," I tinued, "I sider tability of language a ion of Providence for t of t large, and of auticular. to reason from analogy, ribes of vegetables springing up, ?ouris time, and to dust, to make    ty of nature ead of a blessing. tation, and its surface bee a tangled    produs. Language gradually varies, and    fade aings of autted time; otive poock tely beerature.

        Formerly traints on tiplication. orks o be transcribed by ion; tte, en erased to make remely perised and unpro?table craft, pursued cude of ters. tion of manuscripts ly, and ed almost eo monasteries. to ta may, in some measure, be o ed by tellect of antiquity--t tains of t    been broken up, and menius dro tions of paper and t ao all traints. ter, and enabled every mind to pour itself into print, and diffuse itself over tellectual ream of literature o a torrent--augmented into a river-expanded into a sea. A feuries since ?ve or six s stituted a great library; but o libraries, sucually exist, taining t time busy; and tivity, to double and quadruple tality s among t sremble for posterity. I fear tuation of language    be suf?t. Criticism may do mucreases erature, and resembles one of tary    spoken of by eists. All possible encement, to tics, good or bad. But I fear all    criticism do    may, ers e, printers , and tably be overstocked     of a lifetime merely to learn tion at t day reads scarcely anyt revieioter talogue."

        "My very good sir," said ttle quarto, ya drearily in my face, "excuse my interrupting you, but I perceive you are rato prose. I e of an aut as I left tatioemporary. t ed varlet, t kle of Latin, and noto run try for deer-stealing. I to oblivion."

        "On trary," said I, "it is oo t very man t terature of ion beyond term of Engliserature. t tability of language because     ted ture. tic trees t imes see on tream, s, peing tions of t a, and , and pero perpetuity.

        Sucs of time, retaining in modererature of ion to many an indifferent auty. But even o say, is gradually assuming tint of age, and ators,    t up;

        tle quarto began to il at lengt into a plet of laug ;Mig; cried ;mig terature of an age is to be perpetuated by a vagabond deer-stealer! by a man    learning! by a poet! forsoot!" And    of laughter.

        I fess t I felt sometled at t of ermined, o give up my point.

        "Yes," resumed I positively, "a poet; for of all ers    cality. Ote from t es from t, and t and rayer of Nature, eresting. Prose     ers are voluminous and uns expanded into tediousness. But rue poet every terse, touc.

        ts in t language. rates t    striking in nature and art. ures of    is passing before ings, tain t, ts ted in a portable form to posterity. tting may occasionally be antiquated, and require noo be rerinsic value of tinue unaltered. Cast a look back over terary ory.    vast valleys of dulness, ?lled roversies!    bogs of tions!    dreary es of metaped like beas on ted s, to transmit t of poetical intelligence from age to age."*

        I    about to launco eulogiums upon ts of to turn my    o inform me t it ime to close t to ing o, but ttle tome ; t looked perfectly unscious of all t o times since, and o dra into furtion, but in vain; and ook place, or o , been able to discover.
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