Note 16 — Chapter I · THE IMAGINATIVE GROUP

Washington Irving compares the reading-room of the British Museum to the scene in “an old Arabian tale, of a philosopher who was shut up in an enchanted library, in the bosom of a mountain, that opened only once a year; where he made the spirits of the place obey his commands, and bring him books of all kinds of dark knowledge, so that at the end of the year, when the magic portal once more swung open on its hinges, he issued forth so versed in forbidden lore, as to be able to soar above the heads of the multitude and to control the powers of Nature.”—The Art of Bookmaking, in the Sketch-Book.