as much of it as he poffibly could, and write it down for him, against his next Vifit. Magliabechi affured him he would, and, on setting about it, wrote down the whole Manufcript [g], without miffing a Word; or even varying any where from the Spelling.

By treasuring up every thing he read in so ftrange a Manner, or at least the Subject, and all the principal Parts of all the Books he ran over; his Head became at laft, as one of his Acquaintance expreffed it to me, "An universal Index both of

"Titles and Matter."

By this Time Magliabechi was grown fo famous for the vaft Extent of his Reading and his amazing Retention of what he had read, that it began to grow common amongst the Learned to confult him, when they were writing on any Subject. Thus, for Inftance, if a Prieft was going to compofe a Panegyric on fuch a Saint, and came to communicate his Defign to Magliabechi, he would immediately tell him, who had faid any thing of that Saint, and in what Part of their Works, and that fometimes, to the Number of above a hundred Authors.

[g] There is, I believe, at least as much Difference in the English and Florentine ways of speaking, when we praise or extol any thing, as there may be between the Florentine and the Oriental. A Florentine will call a good tolerable House, for Inftance, a Palace; and a little fnug Flower Garden a Paradife. This, and all the other Anecdotes in this Account are from Florentines, as I have said before, and certainly, in most of them, fome Allowance fhould be made for the Florentine Way of Speaking; I having generally expreffed what I had from them in their Language, litterally in our own.

He would tell them not only who had treated of their Subject defignedly, but of fuch also as had touched upon it only accidently, in writing on other Subjects; both which he did with the greatest Exactness, naming the Author, the Book, the Words, and often the very Number of the Page [h] in which they were inferted. He did this fo often, fo readily and fo exactly, that he came at last to be looked upon almost as an Oracle [i], for the ready and full Answers that he gave to all Questions, that were proposed to him in any Faculty or Science whatever.

It was his great Eminence this way, and his vaft, I had almoft faid, inconceivable Knowledge of Books, that induced the Great Duke, Cofmo the Third, to do him the Honour of making him his Librarian; and what a Happiness must it have been to Magliabechi, who delighted in nothing so much as in Reading, to have the fupreme Command and Ufe of fuch a Collection of Books as that in the Great Duke's Palace! He was alfo very converfant with the Books in the Lorenzo Library []; and had

[b] Salvini expreffes this yet more strongly : « Et non che il libro; ❝ma la pagina, la colonna, il verfo, ne additava." Or. Fun. p. 15. "Il Magliabechi fu tanto rinomato per la sua Biblioteca, e per il vafto fuo fapere, che fembiava quafi un oracolo, per le pronte ❝e faggie fue rifpofte, in qualunque facoltà foffe ricercato." Mane curti, in his Life of Crefcembeni. See the Latter's Hiftory of Italian Poetry, T. vi. p. 233.

[*] Salvini, Or. Fun. p. 10, and 11,

the

the keeping of thofe of Leopoldo, and Francefco Maria, the two Cardinals of Tuscany.

And yet even all this did not fatisfy his extenfive Appetite; for one who knew him well told me, "One may fay, that he had read almost all Books :" By which, as he explained himself, he meaned the greatest Part of those printed before his Time [7], and all in it: For it was latterly a general Cuftom, not only among the Authors, but the Printers too of those Times, to make him a Prefent of a Copy of whatever they published; which, by the way, must have been a confiderable Help towards the very large Collection of Books, which he himself made.

To read fuch vaft Numbers as he did, he latterly made ufe of a Method as extraordinary, as any Thing I have hitherto mentioned of him. When a Book first came into his Hands, he would look the Title Page all over, then dip here and there in the Preface, Dedication, and Advertisements; if there were any; and then caft his Eyes on each of the Divifions, the different Sections, or Chapters, and then he would be able for ever to know what that Book contained: For he remembered as fteadily, as he conceived rapidly.

[Salvini goes farther, for he says, «Non vi era minimo libretio "chi' egli non conofceffe." Or. Fun. p. 15. And Crefcembeni, Speaking of a Dispute whether a certain Poem had ever been printed or not, concludes it not, "Because Magliabechi had never foen "it." Iftoria della Volg. Poef. T. vi. p. 23.

It was after he had taken to this way of fore-fhortening his reading, if I may be allowed fo odd an Expreffion; and I think, I rather may, because he conceived the Matter almost as compleatly in this fhort way, as if he had read it at full Length; that a Prieft, who had compofed a Panegyric on one of his favorite Saints, brought it to Magliabechi, as a Prefent. He read it over the very Way above mentioned only the Title Page, and the Heads of the Chapters; and then thanked him very kindly, "For his excellent Treatife." The Author, in fome Pain, afked him, "Whether that was all that “he intended to read of his Book ?" Magliabechi cooly answered, "Yes; for I know very well every

thing that is in it." My Author for this Anecdote endeavoured to account for it in the following Manner: Magliabechi, fays he, knew all that the Writers before had faid of this Saint; he knew this particular Father's Turn and Character; and from thence judged, what he would chuse out of them, and what he would omit. If this way of accounting for fo extraordinary a Thing may not feem fatisfactory to fome, it must at least be allowed to be ingenious by all.

Malgiabechi had a local Memory too of the Places where every Book ftood; as in his Mafter's Shop at firft, and in the Pitti, and feveral other Libraries afterwards: And seems to have carried this farther, than only in Relation to the Collections of Books with which he was perfonally acquainted

acquainted. One Day the Great Duke fent for him, after he was his Librarian, to afk him whether he could get him a Book that was particularly fcarce. "No, Sir," answered Magliabechi, "it is impof

fible; for there is but one in the World; that is "in the Grand Signior's Library at Conftantinople, and is the feventh Book on the fecond Shelf on "the right Hand as you go in."

Though Magliabechi, must have lived fo fedentary a Life, with such an intense and almost perpe→ tual Application to Books, yet he arrived to a good old Age. He died in the eighty-firft Year, on July 14, 1714 [m]. By his Will he left a very fine Library of his own Collection, for the Ufe of the Public, with a Fund to maintain it; and whatever fhould remain over, to the Poor.

He was not an Ecclefiaftic, but chofe never to marry; and was quite negligent, or rather quite flovenly in his Drefs. His Appearance was such, as must have been far from engaging the Affection of a Lady, had he addreffed himself to any; and his Face in particular, as appears by the several Representations of him, whether in his Bufts, Medals, Pictures, or Prints, would rather have prejudiced his Sute, than advanced it: He received his Friends, and those who came to confult him in any Points of Literature, in a civil and obliging Manner; though in general

[m] Lavocat; in his Dictionaire Historique Portatif. Art. Magliabechi: Probably, from Salvini's Or. Fun. p. 29.

he