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therefore, respectfully tendered all genial spirits who will bear company with the humble host; and being unknown to the great world, “I will tell you, sirs, by way of private, and under seal, I am a gentleman, and live here obscure, and to myself."*

Ben Jonson.

F. S.

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"Books are spectacles with which to read nature. They teach us to understand and feel what we see, to decipher and syllable the hieroglyphics of the senses."-DRYDEN.

Books are an essential element of our social economy. The best minds of every age are trained by

"Those dead but sceptred sovereigns, who still rule
Our spirits from their urns."

From books they receive most of their culture; and by them are disciplined in youth, stimulated in manhood, and solaced in age. "When I am reading a book," said Swift, "whether wise or silly, it seems to me to be alive or talking to

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