| Show lUlOWXIXG AND LOOKHR For some of his little rare seventeenth seven-teenth century volumes Lord de Tab ley had an almost petulant affection He has celebrated in beautiful verse his copy of Sucklins Fragments Aurea and perhaps I may be allowed to tell one more bibliomaniac story On a certain occasion when I was at his house Robert Browning and Frederick Locker being the other guests Warren had put on the table his latest prize a copy of Sir William Davenants Madagascar Mad-agascar of 163S Browning presently got hold of the little book and began reading passages aloud making fun of the poetry which Indeed is pretty bad with Listen now to this and Y f Heres a fine conceit Warren bore it for a little while and then he very gently took the volume out of Brown Ings hands and hid it away Oh he explained to me afterward T could not allow him to patronize Day enant A particular favorite with him was Quarles as combining the metaphysical meta-physical poet with the emblematlst He had a curious theory that the influence in-fluence not only of Quarles but of Alciati could be traced in the design of Blake another special object of his study Before I leave this subject I am tempted to quote a passage from one of his delightful letters now nearly twenty years old I have been cheered up by buying today a copy of Henry Lawes Ayres for the Theorbo or Bas Viol 1653 with some Herrick and Lovelace pieces set Also a Spenser of 1610 the first collected Folio with nice little plates to the Shepherds Calendar one each month I must tell you for very idiocy I had the most vivid dream last night that you and I were cardinals car-dinals turning over books in the vatican vati-can library I remember the look of my own red stockings We were both in cardinal red from top to toe Ifelt quite pleased to be smart but your robes seemed better made How infinitely in-finitely absurd But so vivid A certain cer-tain room I remembered In the Vatican came back fresh and the exact dress of the old creatures I saw at the council coun-cil in 1869Edmund Gosse in The Contemporary Review |
