an interpretation of the strange scene before me. A few
words were sufficient for the purpose: -- I found that these
mysterious personages, whom I had mistaken for magi, were
principally authors, and were in the very act of manufacturing
books. I was, in fact, in the reading-room of the great British
Library, an immense collection of volumes of all ages and
languages, many of which are now forgotten, and most of
which are seldom read. To these sequestered pools of obso-
lete literature, therefore, do many modern authors repair, and
draw buckets full of classic lore, or "pure English, undefiled,"
wherewith to swell their own scanty rills of thought.

Being now in possession of the secret, I sat down in a
corner, and watched the process of this book manufactory.
I noticed one lean, bilious-looking wight, who sought none
but the most worm-eaten volumes, printed in black-letter. He
was evidently constructing some work of profound erudition,
that would be purchased by every man who wished to be
thought learned, placed upon a conspicuous shelf of his library,
or laid open upon his table -- but never read. I observed him,
now and then, draw a large fragment of biscuit out of his
pocket, and gnaw; whether it was his dinner, or whether he
was endeavoring to keep off that exhaustion of the stomach,
produced by much pondering over dry works, I leave to harder
students than myself to determine.

There was one dapper little gentleman in bright colored
clothes, with a chirping gossiping expression of countenance,
who had all the appearance of an author on good terms with
his bookseller. After considering him attentively, I recog-
nized in him a diligent getter-up of miscellaneous works, which
bustled off well with the trade. I was curious to see how he
manufactured his wares. He made more show and stir of
business than any of the others; dipping into various books,
fluttering over the leaves of manuscripts, taking a morsel out
of one, a morsel out of another, "line upon line, precept upon
precept, here a little and there a little." The contents of his
book seemed to be as heterogeneous as those of the witches'

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