A precious, mouldering pleasure 't is

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1. A precious, mouldering pleasure 't is
2. To meet an antique book,
3. In just the dress his century wore;
4. A privilege, I think,
5.  
6. His venerable hand to take,
7. And warming in our own,
8. A passage back, or two, to make
9. To times when he was young.
10.  
11. His quaint opinions to inspect,
12. His knowledge to unfold
13. On what concerns our mutual mind,
14. The literature of old;
15.  
16. What interested scholars most,
17. What competitions ran
18. When Plato was a certainty.
19. And Sophocles a man;
20.  
21. When Sappho was a living girl,
22. And Beatrice wore
23. The gown that Dante deified.
24. Facts, centuries before,
25.  
26. He traverses familiar,
27. As one should come to town
28. And tell you all your dreams were true;
29. He lived where dreams were sown.
30.  
31. His presence is enchantment,
32. You beg him not to go;
33. Old volumes shake their vellum heads
34. And tantalize, just so.