Woodward took the part of Cooper, and Codrington that of Millington, but when these characters were first pressed upon them, the latter urged that
“if a book is bad, I cannot pile encomiums on it, and prefer Wither to Virgil, or Merlin to the Sibyls.”
We are told that bids of one penny were taken, and that when the third blow of the hammer has been struck the sale was irrevocable. The auctioneers seem to have offended the ears of the Oxonians by saying “Nepŏtis” and “Stephāni.” At the end of the day Woodward is made to say, “I have spoken, I the great Cooper, whose house is in Little Britain.”
Codrington recites a long rhodomontade ending thus:
“I check myself and put a curb on the runaway muses. But this mallet, the badge of my profession, I affix as a dedicatory offering to this post—To Oxford and the Arts Millington consecrates these arms.”
Dunton traza un retrato favorable de Millington en su obra Life and Errors. Dice que «comenzó y continuó las subastas basándose en la autoridad de Heródoto, quien alaba ese método de venta para entregar las bellezas más exquisitas y finas a sus amorosos; e informa además al mundo de que la suma así recaudada se destinaba a la dote de aquellas a quienes la naturaleza había sido menos propicia: de modo que jamás será olvidado mientras su nombre sea Ned, o él, un hombre de notable elocución, ingenio, sensatez y modestia; características tan eminentemente suyas que se le reconocería por ellas entre mil. Millington (desde el momento en que vendió la biblioteca del Dr. Annesly) me demostró una amistad particular. En un principio fue librero,