In this chapter I group together some collections remarkable in their day, but more from the character and fortunes of their owners than from their actual contents. Many adventitious circumstances serve to heighten our interest in particular books; none, I suppose, more prominently, or more naturally, than their known influence over famous men in their formative period; or their known value in solacing the dark days of those who have fallen from power, or from a lofty station, into the depths of adversity. It can never, I imagine, be other than matter of enduring interest to know the books that have charmed—whether in youth or in maturity, in the flood or in the ebb of fortune—the men who, for a season, have seemed to “bestride tbe narrow world, like a Colossus.” One memorable instance conjoins both kinds of attraction. But, first of all, we will glance at some instances of a minor order.

Among the royal personages of France, Charles V, his son Charles VI (prior to the time of his mental aberration), and the Consort of that prince, Isabel of Bavaria, seem to be the earliest who took delight in gathering books.