them and taking their places. We add no more; we only devoutly pray that we may never have on our consciences the load of such a recollection as this.

We are well aware that in thus expressing ourselves we are deviating from the course usually pursued in commenting on the conduct of men with respect to public affairs, and we are very far indeed from throwing out the least suspicion that either the authors of the measure in question, or their abettors, were capable of doing or consenting to the thousandth part of the mischief, in their private capacity, which in their public capacity they did or suffered. But the line, unfortunately, is too constantly drawn between the one of these things and the other. They are regarded as comparatively blameless who only do wrong on the greatest scale. Men's feelings are all strong enough upon cases of individual misconduct, as they are in those of individual suffering; and nations will be misgoverned, and rulers will commit grievous offences against the welfare of their fellow-creatures, as long as the determination continues so rooted in the mind of the community to regard with wholly different feelings the private and public conduct of men, and even to award the lesser reprobation to the greater wrongs.

ART. VI.-1. Report from the Select Committee on the Condition, Management, and Affairs of the British Museum, together with the Minutes of Evidence. Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 1835. Fol. PP. 623.

2. Report, ditto, ditto, 1836. Fol. pp. 595.

3. Report from the Select Committee on the British Museum (building with plans). 1838. pp. 22.

4. Copy of a Representation from the Trustees of the British Museum to the Treasury, on the subject of an enlarged Scale of Expenditure for the supply of Printed Books. March 27, 1846. 5. Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Constitution of the British Museum, with the Minutes of Evidence. 1850. Fol. pp. 823.

6. Appendix. pp. 448.

7. Misrepresentations of Her Majesty's Commissioners exposed. By the Rev. J. Forshall. 8vo. 1850.

8. Copies of all Communications addressed to the Treasury by the Trustees of the British Museum, with reference to the Report of the Commissioners. June 7, 1850.

9. Public Petitions, complaining of the defective Arrangements in the Library of the British Museum. Aug. 15, 1850.

10. Report

10. Report from the Select Committee on Public Libraries, together with the Proceedings of the Committee, Minutes of Evidence, and Appendix. July 23, 1849. Fol. pp. 317.

11. Report, ditto, ditto, Aug. 1, 1850. Fol. pp. 410.

A

12. Index to Report and Minutes of Evidence. 1850. Fol. pp. 172. LTHOUGH these Blue Books weigh more than a quorum of elderly reviewers could lift, we have read and digested the mass, which few in the House or out of the House will do, or are ever expected to attempt. The destiny of this species of the nearly extinct folio, printed at a frightful waste of public money, is to furnish food for worms or waste paper for pepper.

The British Museum originated with Sir Hans Sloane (16601753), who devoted his long life to scientific pursuits-and the getting together of books, manuscripts, and rarities of every kind, at an expense of more than 50,0007. His testamentary offer to the nation of the entire collection for 20,000l. was accepted by Parliament, and in 1755 an act (26 George II. c. 20) was passed, which may be called a charter of foundation. About the same time a sum of 10,0007. was given for the Harleian manuscripts-to which the Cotton and Edwards collections were added; and these beginnings were advanced by George II., who, often pinched as to accommodation for German friends in his palaces, with marked liberality handed over the royal library of England, accumulated since Henry VII. Such was the nucleus around which the present vast and unrivalled assemblage has been gathered.

The government of the institution was vested in trustees; to the end (inter alia) that, as the Act says, 'a free access to the collections may be given to all studious and curious persons, at such times and in such manner as by the said trustees shall be limited for that purpose.' These trustees are forty-eight in number. Twenty-three are called Official-being the holders for the time of certain high offices, by whom the national interests of church and state, law, science, and art, are presumed to be represented and protected; of these the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, and the Speaker of the House of Commons, are termed the Principal Trustees. Nine others are called the Family Trustees, as representing the families of Sloane, Cotton, Harley, and other benefactors; one more is termed the Royal Trustee, because nominated directly by the Crown, in respect of its many and great presents. The remaining fifteen are styled the Elected Trustees; they are all chosen by the preceding twenty-three, and by them only ;-for an elected trustee has, wisely or unwisely, no vote at subsequent elections, in deference to a supposed legal saw, Electus non potest eligere ;-but virtually the three Principal Trustees are the real

electors.

electors. In accordance with the desire of Sir Hans Sloane, the elected were picked in the beginning from among the adepts of learning and science; and this practice continued until about 1791, when the vacancies began to be filled up almost exclusively by persons of rank and fortune-not quite necessarily adepts; an alteration possibly introduced at that revolutionary levelling period, with a laudable view of strengthening the aristocracy. Be that as it may, by this monopoly of a coveted distinction, the seeds of discontent, jealousy, and hostility were sown, which have ripened into open warfare in our times-for in those when the change was made it was not much noticed. Even sages and doctors had small leisure for pondering on the abstract rights or wrongs of science, when a deluge from France threatened to carry away every ancient landmark, religious and social: when the enemy was at the gate, all Englishmen, good and true, had to battle for altar and hearth. Nor did the nation at large take a tithe of the present interest in purely intellectual subjects. Few comparatively thirsted after knowledge or hungered after education-the modern panacea. The childlike uninstructed curiosity of the many was well pleased and satisfied with the sort of exhibitions provided for them by our fathers; and the government, compelled to be prodigal in warlike expenditure, grudged grants to an institution whose ends and objects flourish best in peace. Downing-street, overburthened with fear and toil, cared for none of these things;* and the British Museum itself hardly kept pace with the age, which it did not attempt to lead or advance.

Of those intrusted with the working duties, the chief is called the Principal Librarian-though, as he has nothing to do with the books in particular, he might better be simply named the Principal, the Warden. He is appointed by the Crown under the sign-manual, and holds his office during good behaviour. To him, subject to the control of the Trustees, the main care and custody of the Museum and its contents are confided: among other duties, he is to watch that all the inferior officers perform theirs; he grants temporary admissions to the public, pays salaries and incidental expenses, sees that the orders of the trustees are carried into effect, reports to them in all cases of neglect and irregularity, and exercises a general superintendence over everything. He is the Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant. The different departments are each managed by a head-a Captain.

*We have all heard that, on the first advance of the French revolutionary armies into unplundered Italy, Mr. Pitt was offered the Pitti Gallery for a few thousands: but refused-more's the pity on the ground that he would not reduce the navy one middy for the Medicean Venus. Perhaps the Chancellor of the Exchequer then did his duty, as the youngsters did theirs at Trafalgar. May neither the man nor the middies be wanting when wanted!

Formerly

Formerly there were only three departments-those of the printed books, of the MSS., and of natural history; but out of these three a fourth was carved about 1807, at the suggestion of Mr. Speaker Abbot, and was called that of arts and antiquities. Each captain, besides attending to the public, and to the general welldoing of his department, is to report on his occupations once a month to the standing committee of the trustees. These heads are aided by assistants and attendants, many of whose feelings are miserably wounded by being paid at so much per diem, like mere journeymen, and this only for the days they actually come to their work. No allowance is made for absences caused by illnesses to which the flesh is heir; none for Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and Christmas, when the Museum is closed and the church open. Neither is there any retiring pension for good and faithful servants who have wasted bone and marrow in such

incessant occupation. It is owing to this uncertainty, this timor paupertatis, so injurious to mind and body, that within Mr. Keeper Gray's recollection six even of the officers have left the Museum or died of mental disease. The duties of the Secretarywhom we liken to an Adjutant-are to issue summonses for the meetings of trustees, to attend at them, make minutes of the proceedings, and conduct the official correspondence.

The patronage of the Museum belongs to the three, or any two, Principal Trustees, who appoint the holders in writing, and on a stamp, because that is the only evidence they can show of such appointments. Practically, it rests with the Archbishop. He is the first named in the Act, and is fixed for life in his high office, while the Chancellors and Speakers fluctuate with changes of ministries and parliaments. The remarkable coincidence of the primacy and speakership being for many years in one family-Manners Sutton-coupled with Chancellor Lord Eldon's reluctance to act, naturally increased the preponderance of Lambeth. The mouth of the speaker son was dutifully dumb; and the father archbishop became the real head of the triumvirate-the first consul. At that period, the attendant situations were often given to the menial servants of influential people. Butlers of bishops, when ripe for pension, form, we know, the raw material for cathedral vergers, and do credit by portly conduct to sober sinecures, which are their established perquisites and euthanasia; but promotion from the cellar to the cabinet, from the larder to the library, however legitimate the connexion between gastronomy and literature, was a custom more honoured in the breach than in the observance. The parting struggle of the principals, after it had been agreed not to provide thus for their own domestics, may be mentioned. The Primate brought an appointment,

appointment, already signed by the Chancellor, and handed it over to the Speaker Abbot, to add his name. 'Oh!' said he, returning it read but unsigned; ' another servant of your Grace's! Two signatures are enough.' The archbishop blushed, and tore the paper. The patronage still continues in his Grace's successors -although (to judge from the Evidence) it appears to have latterly been in part exercised by the Secretary, who had two applications for places every day for six months. The principal librarian, as housekeeper, had the nomination of the housemaids, until, 'to his (Sir Henry Ellis's) great satisfaction,' the privilege passed to the principal trustees.Dec. 10, 1842-Cornelius Sullivan, Patrick Ryan, and David Roach were appointed in-door labourers to assist the housemaids.' Patrick is stout and well, David sound as a roach, poor 'Cornelius has died since in the service.' The heads of the respective departments are not usually consulted, on vacancies, as to the sort of person especially wanted by them; they are compelled to take those who are appointed by a power that is without responsibility, be they fit or not. Nay, persons are appointed in spite of their remonstrances. As there is no rule or indeed custom of promotion, a stranger may be put over an old and meritorious assistant, and the head exposed to blame for not unanticipated consequences. This discouraging system brought about a just retribution; and it was partly to the clamours of a temporary assistant, who had been dismissed, that the parliamentary inquiries in 1835 were owing.

It was during the official trusteeship of Mr. Speaker Abbot, one of the best trustees the Museum ever had, that its darkest moments drew to a close; then the penurious grants from Parliament began gradually to be increased, and extended facilities were afforded to readers and visitors. After the glorious events of 1815, when the temple of Janus was shut, the arts of peace, trodden down under the iron heels of armed hosts, sprang up, and the intellectual energies of Europe, too long engrossed in hostility and destruction, were directed anew to the preservation and civilization of poor humanity. By this blessed peace our learned and scientific men were once more brought into contact with their continental brethren, and a freer exchange made of discoveries and improvements. It was impossible, when the superior organization of foreign museums, their well-planned buildings, their liberal and effective arrangements were studied, that our illcontrived and ill-managed old Museum could be defended even by its steadiest friends. The active and angry opponents were many, and they presently found leaders in the Naturalists.

Natural History is comparatively a new science, and was quite secondary to literature in the days of Sloane-and after them.