BOOK III. Chapter II. Systems du jeune Anarcharsis en Grèce, and the Voyages en Grèce of M. Spon; the Voyage round the World of De Foe, Classificatory and the Voyages round the World of Lord Anson; the Voyages des Papes of John Von Müller, and the Voyages des Missionaires de la Compagnie de Jésus, have all titles which look alike, and sound alike, but no bibliographer would place them in the same class. Few bibliographers, on the other hand, might perhaps hesitate to class the Voyage de Marseille à Lima, of a certain M. Durret, or the Narrative of a captivity among the Indians, of Hunter, or the Voyage en Portugal, of Carière, along with the voyages of Anson, or the travels of Clarke; but the first two are fictitious, and the last is the mere re-issue of a guide-book called Tableau de Lisbonne. Brunet does not hesitate to place the Voyage minéralogique et géologique en Hongrie, of Beaudant, in the class "SCIENCES," under Mineralogy, rather than in "HISTORY," under Voyages; yet the Voyage physique et lithologique dans la Campagne, of Breislak must be looked for in the latter, not the former.1 Similar instances might easily be multiplied. Is it not then. worth consideration, (and it is but a suggestion that I here put forward,) whether the section "Voyages and Travels" might not, with advantage, be abolished as a sub-division of "History," and its contents be distributed according to their real subject-matter and essential character? Thus the Voyage en Italie, of Montfaucon, would be classed with works of literary history, and the Voyage en Icarie, of M. Cabet, with romances. The Brunet, Manuel. Comp. Albert, Recherches, ut supra. BOOK III. Chapter II. Systems. Voyage du jeune Anarcharsis would then have its subClassificatory sidiary place, by way of appendix, in the history of the ancient world; and the Voyages des Papes would occupy their proper section in that of the Church of Rome. The travels of De Luc would be sought for under Geology; those of Layard and of Vyse under Archæology, and so on. As to the purely descriptive travels, they would follow the systematic Topography of the country to which they relate; and as to the works of the traveller who is neither naturalist nor archæologist, who carries no hammer and no microscope; who sets to work neither diggers nor dredgers, describes no country in particular, but rushes from clime to clime, as though "Impelled, with steps unceasing to pursue Some fleeting good, that mocks him with the view," and on his return sends to press a bulky volume, which is half road-book, and half collection of bills of fare, he might be allowed the honour of a section to himself, by way, perhaps, of appendix to "Universal History." Whatever the worth or the worthlessness of this suggestion in other respects, it is clear that on one score, at all events, it would materially simplify the arrangement of a catalogue rich in works of History. So long as in such a catalogue the history and topography of the various countries of the world, and narratives of voyage and travel in those countries, form two independent divisions of the class "History," it is obvious that a long repetition of geographical detail is unavoidable. The desirableness, too, of retaining the usual sub BOOK III. Chapter II. Systems. divisions of Poetry and Prose Fiction, as independent sections of the class "LITERATURE," seems fairly open Classificatory to question. Such a classification is purely one of form; it has nothing to do either with the substance or with the aim and purpose of books. The Télemaque of Fénélon, the Utopia of More, the Nova Atlantis of Bacon, the Civitas Solis of Campanella, the Pilgrim's Progress of Bunyan, have little, indeed, in common with Joseph Andrews, or with the Waverley Novels. The bibliographer, I think, would not be far wrong who should boldly transfer the first four to the class "Philosophy," and the fifth to that of "Theology;" and in the latter instance he would have the sanction of Coleridge, who has assigned to the Pilgrim a place among the "Works of British Divines." It cannot be denied, however, that the innovation would entail difficulties of its own, from the number of works which would lie doubtfully on the border territories, try as we may to define clearly their respective limits. With versified Poetry the task would be especially troublesome, but at all events such works as The life and death of Thomas Wolsey, by Storer, and the De Arte Graphica of Du Fresnoy, may be safely withdrawn from its domain to those of "Historical Biography" in the one case, and of the "Fine Arts" in the other. On the two folding leaves which face this page I have tabulated, for the sake of more easy reference, the principal systems which have been described, in those two broadly marked groups already indicated:-the one aiming at a philosophical synthesis of human know BOOK III. Chapter II. ledge; the other, more simply, assorting subjects into Classificatory manageable divisions and subdivisions. I offer this arrangement as necessarily partaking of the imperfections of a first attempt. Systems. I have not the smallest desire to add another original 'Scheme' to the long line which has passed under review. But it may not be without utility for some of those nascent Town Libraries which I hold to be amongst the best results of recent legislation, if I close this section of my subject with the outlines of a classificatory system, founded on the broad principles which experience has endorsed, but modified with a view to the special characteristics and requirements of the new institutions. Here, I shall aim at holding a middle course, clear alike of over elaboration on the one hand and of confusion on the other. The main classes, I propose, are six:-I. THEOLOGY; II. PHILOSOPHY; III. HISTORY; IV. POLITICS AND COMMERCE; V. SCIENCES AND ARTS; VI. LITERATURE AND POLYGRAPHY. We may safely assume that in an average "Town Library," now to be formed, the books in the Classes "HISTORY" and "POLITICS AND COMMERCE" will greatly exceed those in the Classes "THEOLOGY" and" PHILOSOPHY" and that consequently the former will need a much more detailed classification than the latter. This remark, however, will scarcely apply to the Class, "SCIENCES AND ARTS," the needful subdivisions of which are to a considerable extent independent of the number of works which may have to be catalogued in it. That, also, is the Class which pre |