LIBRARY SOCIETY,
263
with, or whose well-filled shelves bear a richer burden. Books to suite very taste (and every age, I might say—for our friend " Peter Parley" displays there the hidden treasures of the " earth, the sea, and skies," to the delight of the youthful reader,) may be found in this Library Society. Theological, metaphysical, biographical, historical, and lighter works, abound. Poetry is not excluded ; our own sweet bards, from good old Chaucer, that " father of English poetry," down to the soft strains of Mrs. Hemans, or L. E. L., rank among its selections. Of modern works there are no end. There, the irresistible charms of that " Wizard of the North," the late Sir Walter Scott, with his "Jenny Deans;" his high-minded "Flora* McIvor ;" his unfortunate " Bride of Lammermoor," and all his other " gentle dames" and " lordly knights," are displayed before the enraptured reader. There Marryat amuses with his naïveté, and those stirring incidents of a sailor's life, he knows so well to picture. There, " Boz" carries you perforce from the hut to the castle, and makes you weep or laugh in each. There are Bulwer and Ainsworth, who draw their gentlemen-ruffians in such a guise as to lead one to admire even a housebreaker or highwayman ; Cooper, who makes us long to lead the life of a backwood's-man ; James, with his darling peeps at " by-gone days ;" the dear Miss Mitford and Mary Howitt, whose simple annals and sylvan scenes almost bring before us the lovely fields and sweet flowers of England ; Mrs. Gore, with all her pageantries ; Mrs. Trollope, with her playful but keen sarcasms ; the Countess of Blessington, with her elegant diction and pure imagery, as lovely as her own sweet form ; with many other authors of note, are equally at the command of the subscribers to this Antiguan bibliotheca. This society has been established for many years, but it was not incorporated by an act of the legislature until 1839, during the government of Sir Wm. Colebrooks. The members are elected by ballot, and after subscribing for ten