Page:Scribner's magazine (IA scribnersmagazin16newy).pdf/359

 Fac-simile of a Letter from Charles Lamb.

The more carefully we read and compare the texts the more surely we discover that from these pages (possibly, wonder of wonders, from this page) the poet we name William Shakespeare drew the body of his immortal play of "Julius Cæsar."

We close the great covers reverently and put the silent witness back under the lighter shelf.

In Mr. Andrew Lang's pleasant book "The Library," he speaks of the difficulty in these decadent days of picking up literary treasures, a thing so frequently done by those who knew, forty, thirty, and even twenty years ago. Nevertheless, we would whisper, let not those who possess the knowledge, and the opportunity of following the quest, lose all hope. Good things 347