I make no apology for availing myself of my own property in the way of quotation; simply because it may be asserted with strict truth that in no work does there appear so full and faithful an account of the Sale, and of the Club, about to be noticed, than in that to which a reference is above made. Yet I shall retread, as little as possible, the ground before trodden; reserving myself chiefly for such matters and anecdotes as are connected with those heroes who fought in the book-fight, or regaled themselves at the annual banquet. Of the guests atthe first of these “banquets,” more than ONE-THIRD (including very recently the illustrious President) have paid the debt of nature.

And first comes the caterer of the first book-dish or the manufacturer of the Catalogue of the Roxburghe Library, the late Mr. George Nicol: bookseller to His Majesty George III., and no trivial assistant in the formation of that Royal Library which has been lately deposited within the walls of the British Museum. Mr. Nicol was a singular character, and his singularity is at once a theme of commendation and regret.