4 JANUARY 1902, Page 17

THE CARE OF BOOKS. rro THE EDITOU OF THE "

SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Allow me to add two more warnings to book thieves.

The one is from a school-book of 1795 belonging to a boy of my family at that date :—

" Si quis in hum librum furtivos vertit ocellos, II sibi pro meritis litera graeea manet."

The moral is enforced by a figure sus. per coll. from the crossbar. The other is :—

" Steal not this book, my dearest friend. Do, the gallows will be your end. And unto you the Lord will say,

' Where is that book you stole away ? '"

I do not know where it comes from, but the use of "Do" for " If you do " is distinctly a Suffolk idiom.—I am, Sir, &c.,