That the dean only looked now
and then into the library, sometimes took down a volume or two,
trifled with them for a few moments, and then returned them to their
shelves. "What a plague do they mean," said the little quarto, which I
began to perceive was somewhat choleric, "what a plague do they mean
by keeping several thousand volumes of us shut up here, and watched by
a set of old vergers, like so many beauties in a harem, merely to be
looked at now and then by the dean? Books were written to give
pleasure and to be enjoyed; and I would have a rule passed that the
dean should pay each of us a visit at least once a year; or if he is
not equal to the task, let them once in a while turn loose the whole
school of Westminster among us, that at any rate we may now and then
have an airing."
"Softly, my worthy friend," replied I, "you are not aware how much
better you are off than most books of your generation. By being stored
away in this ancient library, you are like the treasured remains of
those saints and monarchs, which lie enshrined in the adjoining
chapels; while the remains of your contemporary mortals, left to the
ordinary course of nature, have long since returned to dust."
"Sir," said the little tome, ruffling his leaves and looking big, "I
was written for all the world, not for the bookworms of an abbey. I
was intended to circulate from hand to hand, like other great
contemporary works; but here have I been clasped up for more than
two centuries, and might have silently fallen a prey to these worms
that are playing the very vengeance with my intestines, if you had not
by chance given me an opportunity of uttering a few last words
before I go to pieces.
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