Perhaps too I was indolent. I find nothing more of him in my
notes, but that when I mentioned that I had seen in the King's library
sixty-three editions of my favourite Thomas a Kempis, amongst which
it was in eight languages, Latin, German, French, Italian, Spanish,
English, Arabick, and Armenian, he said, he thought it unnecessary to
collect many editions of a book, which were all the same, except as
to the paper and print; he would have the original, and all the
translations, and all the editions which had any variations in the text.
He approved of the famous collection of editions of Horace by Douglas,
mentioned by Pope, who is said to have had a closet filled with them;
and he added, every man should try to collect one book in that manner,
and present it to a publick library.'
On Wednesday, May 19, I sat a part of the evening with him, by
ourselves. I observed, that the death of our friends might be a
consolation against the fear of our own dissolution, because we might
have more friends in the other world than in this.
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