Nigel seized on the book, and did not refuse the wine, thinking that a
glass or two, as it really proved to be of good quality, would be no
bad interlude to his studies. He dismissed, with thanks and assurance
of reward, the poor old drudge who had been so zealous in his service;
trimmed his fire and candles, and placed the easiest of the old arm-
chairs in a convenient posture betwixt the fire and the table at which
he had dined, and which now supported the measure of sack and the
lights; and thus accompanying his studies with such luxurious
appliances as were in his power, he began to examine the only volume
with which the ducal library of Alsatia had been able to supply him.
The contents, though of a kind generally interesting, were not well
calculated to dispel the gloom by which he was surrounded. The book
was entitled "God's Revenge against Murther;" not, as the
bibliomaniacal reader may easily conjecture, the work which Reynolds
published under that imposing name, but one of a much earlier date,
printed and sold by old Wolfe; and which, could a copy now be found,
would sell for much more than its weight in gold.[Footnote: Only three
copies are known to exist; one in the library at Kennaquhair, and two-
-one foxed and cropped, the other tall and in good condition--both in
the possession of an eminent member of the Roxburghe Club.--_Note by_
CAPTAIN CLUTTERBUCK.
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