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THE GUARDIAN .
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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
