Guigard, by M. Quentin-Bauchart, or by M.
Uzanne, it is difficult to find one who preferred the inside to the
outside of the book. M. Uzanne, indeed, has contended that no female
bibliophile ever felt the passion that inspired a Grolier or a De Thou:
that Marie Antoinette herself may have caged thousands of books at the
Trianon like birds in an aviary, without any real regard to their nature
or the right way of using them; that these devotees of the book-chase
were like an invalid master of hounds, keeping the pack in a gilded
kennel without any exercise or any chance of practical work. We think
that something perhaps might be said on the other side. The Duchesse de
Berry in our own time possessed a serious collection, made under her own
direction, in which might be found the _Livre d'Heures_ of Henri Deux,
the prayer-book of Joanna of Naples, the best books of Marguerite de
Valois and Marie Leczinska. The Princess Pauline Buonaparte was the
owner of a well-selected library. But our best example is Madame
Elisabeth, the ill-fated daughter of France, who was dragged from her
books at Montreuil in the tumults of 1789. Only a short time before she
had been absorbed in her simple collection. In the spring of 1786 she
gave up her mornings to its arrangement. 'My library,' she wrote, 'is
nearly finished: the desks are being put up, and you cannot imagine the
fine effect of the books.' On September the 15th she writes to her friend
again: 'Montreuil and its mistress get on as well as two sweethearts.
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