327 
of Edinburgh, Session 1881-82. 
as it does in interesting notices of curious books and their 
collectors. It tells, in a pleasant and graceful style, of the 
characteristics, it may possibly be the blunders, that have made 
certain editions prized by collectors — for even certain editions 
of the Bible have been largely increased in value by some 
strange accidental error of the printer. In short, it is a thesaurus 
of the curiosities of bibliography, and of the eccentricities of biblio- 
maniacs. It has long been out of print, but a new edition will 
shortly appear, which will contain a memoir of the author written 
by Mrs. Hill Burton. 
The following allusions to his personal habits may not be unin- 
teresting. It is stated by those who knew him that in pedestrian 
excursions he had walked over the greater part of Scotland, and as 
he was a geologist as well as an antiquary and a lover of the 
picturesque, he found varied sources of interest in the course of his 
rambles. ITis library did not mean a particular room ; it wandered 
over his whole house. The principal rooms were all filled or 
covered with books. The shelves were put up with his own hands, 
and the books were so arranged that he knew where to find any of 
them even in the dark. He used to mention that the pecuniary 
value of the works he had received as presents from contemporary 
authors amounted to upwards of £400, and this is a proof that he 
was on the most friendly terms with other literary men. 
One who knew him well says, — “ He was very hospitably 
inclined, and very kind of heart, although his blunt manner often 
wronged him in the eyes of strangers. His varied knowledge, his 
fund of anecdote, and his quaint humour made him a delightful 
companion. ” More than most hardworking men, he felt a positive 
pleasure in his unceasing intellectual activity, and like our former 
president, Sir Walter Scott, considered “ the capacity to labour as 
part of the happiness he had enjoyed.” It was doubtless owing to 
this peculiarity of temperament that to the last he preserved much 
of the freshness of youth, as evinced by an unfailing buoyancy of 
spirit, and the lively intellectual interest he took in a vast variety 
of subjects; for as Burton’s friend, Sir Theodore Martin, observed in 
his rectorial address at St Andrews — “ It is no paradox to say that 
there is nothing like work for maintaining the elasticity of mind, 
and preparing it for what we should all aim at— the carrying on 
