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 N ° 60.

THE GUARDIAN.

359

that you may be ſure I had what they call a

choice collection, ſometimes buying by the pound, ſometimes by the dozen , at other times

by the hundred. For the more pleaſant uſe of a multitude of books, I had by frequent con

ferences with an ingenious joiner, contrived machine of an orbicular ſtructure, that had its

particular receptions for a dozen authors, and

which, with the leaſt touch of the finger, would whirl round, and preſent the reader at once with a delicious view of its full furniture. Thrice a day

did I change, not only the books, but the lan guages ; and had uſed my eye to fuch a quick ſuc ceffion ofobjects,that in the moſt precipitate twirl I could catch a ſentence out of each author, as it.

paffed fleeting by me. Thus my hours, days, and

years, flew unprofitably away, but yet were agree ably lengthened by being diſtinguiſhed with this endearing variety ; and I cannot butthink myſelf very fortunate in my contrivance of this engine, with its ſeveral new editions and amendments ,

which have contributed ſo much to the delight

of all ſtudious vagabonds. When I had been reſident the uſual time at Oxford that gains one admiſſion into the public library, I was the hap pieſt creature on earth, promiſing to myſelf moſt

delightful travels through this new world of literature. Sometimes you might fee me mounted upon a ladder, in ſearch of fome Arabian manu

fcripts, which had ſlept in a certain corner un diſturbed for many years. Once I had the mif fortune to fall from this eminence, and catching at the chains of the books, was ſeen hanging in a

very merry poſture, with two or three large folios A A 4