BOOK V.

Chapter XII.

very peaceful. Nor was that Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Past, Present, who vainly urged Queen Elizabeth to found a Royal Library in 1570, one of those

and Future.

"Gentlemen of England, Who live at home, at ease."

Meanwhile, the Cottons, and Lumleys, and Howards, were unwittingly working together to lay the foundations of that "Museum Library", which will ere long be the foremost in the world.

Professional Libraries, professionally maintained, have thriven in Britain as well as in other countries. But not even the generous exertions of Thomas Bray, with the help of an Act of Parliament to boot, could give enduring vitality to those mongrel collections which were to have a public sanction and a class restriction. The entire history of the Libraries referred to The Parochial in the Act of Anne, is a warning against any repetition of the experiment, in any of its phases. Libraries that are to possess a public character or to profit, in any way, by public resources, must be wholly independent

Libraries refer

red to in the Statute of

Queen Anne.

of class restrictions.

To sum up, in few words, the practical conclusions which (as the matter shapes itself to me,) may fairly be deduced from what has preceded, I suggest that we need in this country:

(1.) Such a revision of the regulations of all existing Libraries which possess any public character,— and preeminently of those which in some form or other dip into the public purse, as shall ensure

the largest amount of public service that is consistent with safe guardianship and good order;

(2.) The preparation and printing of thorough Catalogues of the principal Libraries of the country, on as uniform a plan as may be found practicable, and the making of such Catalogues easily accessible to all students, wherever domiciled;

(3.) The removal of all fiscal obstructions to the production of English books, and to the importation of foreign books, whatever may be the apparent magnitude, the supposed incidence, or the plausible pretexts of such obstructions:

(4.) Effective measures with respect to the free circulation and diffusion, under proper regulation, of all Public Records, State Papers, Chronicles, Calendars, Indexes, Parliamentary Papers, Public Books, Maps, or Charts of all kinds, as are or shall be printed at the public charge. This free circulation (to permanent and thoroughly accessible Libraries) should be regarded as the primary object of the production of such Records and books, and should aim at ensuring their presence in all Libraries wherein they are likely to be of public utility, and thus transform what has too often been a matter of false economy and petty intrigue, into a systematic and potent means for the encouragement of literary and scientific effort, and for the wider diffusion of that enlightened interest in public affairs which is the sheet-anchor of a well governed community;

BOOK V.

Chapter XII. Past, Present, and Future.

BOOK V.

Chapter XII. Past, Present,

and Future.

(5.) Careful and thorough inquiry into the past history, the present condition, and the best means of improving and invigorating such of those old Libraries, founded for public use, as may have fallen, more or less completely, into desuetude or neglect;

(6.) Full inquiry into the working of the Public Libraries Acts, with a view to their deliberate and thorough amendment in all such points as may, by the results of experience, commend themselves to legislative re-consideration. Such amendment should aim at the increased efficiency of the Rate-supported Libraries which are already established; at the greater adaptability of the Acts to the varying circumstances of different localities; and at the removal of all other obstacles, within legislative purview, which may have impeded the right operation of the Acts in question.

The measures which I have thus broadly suggested will need not a little of industry, and patience, and time, for their thorough elaboration. They comprise matters respecting which the opinion, even of those who have long taken an active interest in them, is yet but “in the making." I am deeply sensible that anything which it is in my power to contribute towards the end in view cannot but be crude, partial, inadequate.

Perhaps, it would not always tend to public advantage, were the small-fry of literature able to attain to a full conception of the thought that dwelt in the mind of Bacon, when he thus expressed himself:-"Being now at length at some pause, and looking back at that

we have past through, this my writing seems to me
not much unlike those sounds and preludes which mu-
sicians make while they are tuning their instruments,
which is harsh and unpleasing to hear, but is yet a
cause why the music is sweeter afterwards. Thus have
I been content to employ my pains in tuning,
that afterwards they may play who have better hands."
Fully to realize this thought, in its relative bearings,
might well suggest misgivings whether, in one's own
case, even the tuning were fitly done.

Howbeit, in the absence of better, it may help some- .
what. I proceed, then, to offer, as I can, some hints
and considerations on the chief matters which, together,
make
up the practical ECONOMY OF LIBRARIES, assort-
ing the subject thus:

I. Book Collecting;

II. Buildings;

III. Classification and Catalogues;

IV. Internal Administration, and Public Ser

vice.

But there occurs yet one observation more, in limine:

Amongst the means of improving existing Libraries which have been indicated is that of thorough Inquiry into their history, condition, and capability. This one measure more or less underlies all the others, enwraps within itself an indefinite latent force, and is immediately available. Inquiry involves PUBLICITY..

If every Library in this country on which the Public has any fair claim, could be brought distinctly under

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Chapter XII. Past, Present, and Future.

BOOK V.

Chapter XII.

and Future.

public view, by a precise and periodical statement, comPast, Present, prising at least these three particulars:-(1.) what it is; (2.) what it has; and (3.) what it does; a long train of improvements would inevitably follow. But the systematic inspection of Public Libraries to be effective must be national.

In that section of the subject "Book collecting" which treats of the distribution of books and documents printed at the public charge, I have indicated a means by which inspection may be usefully blended with systematic help. In any case, what has been effected under Parliamentary authority may rightly be subjected to Parliamentary review. Whether or not the existing machinery of the "Privy Council Committee for Education," which has already done so much work, and done much of it well,-may advantageously be applied in this matter will deserve consideration.