Literature.

The preface opens with an assertion that the objects , nature of the collections , government and administration , are the same as at the time of its foundation , a century since , and states thatno tivo public establishments can be Avell more dissimilar than the British Museum of 1759 and 1859 . It enters upon , the regulations at the earlier period , telling us how persons were admitted by tickets , and that in 177-1 a committee of the House of Commons reported

" That it was their opinion that the most probable method of obviating those inconveniences ( the applications for tickets , -which Avere sometimes months in arrear ) , ivould be by enabling the trustees to demand and receive money for the admission of persons to sec tbe Museum on certain days in thc week , some clays and hours being still allotted for receiving persons gratis . " Upon a division this proposition was lost ba majority of three—fifty-three

y being in its favour and fifty-six against it . In thc year 181 . 0 , the Monday , Wednesday , and Friday admission was adopted , " but even then , and for many years afterwards , the presence of a fcAV hundred persons in thc building was considered to call for special precautions to secure the preservation of order . "

"This rear ofthe public has long ceased . NOAV all are admitted AVIIO present themselves , thc only condition being that they shall he able to ivalk into the building . " These efforts have not been thrown aivay , as -13 , 000 holiday folk have recently passeel through the building in one day , Avithout thc slightest injury to the collections . On the establishment of the reading room on the Sth of

December , 1758 , by the trustees , they ordered " that the corner room in the base _ story be appropriated for tlie reading room , and that a proper ivainscot table , covered witli green baize , in thc same manner as those in thc libraries , be prepared for the same , with twenty chairs of the same kind with those already provided for the several departments of the house . "

" A corner room in the basement story , Avith one oak table aud iHcnty chairs , forms a very striking contrast with tlie reading room of tho present day , but it AA'as not so bad as thc indulged reader of modern times may imagine . A glass door opened , from this reading room into the garden of Montague House , ivhich ivas Avell cultivated and planted ivith goodly trees , and between Avhich and Hampstead nothing intervened to obstruct the prospect or poison the air . "We may smile now . -it the twenty chairs , but they proved more than sufficient for the demands made upon them . "

Ihe preface then deals ivith accounts of the visits of Gray the poet , and mi extract from the Right Hon . Mr . Disraeli ' s edition ot his father ' s Curiosities of Literature ; but as these are too good to be severed from tbe book , those of our readers ivho feci interested r-hould procure it for themselves . The covert sneer in the last sentence , "But it cannot be denied that at that time ( the date of ita elder Disraeli ' s first attendance ) they ( the readers ) were select , which certainl not is

they y arc now , " , to say thc least , uncalled lor . Perhaps at that time thc librarians knciv more of their calling than they do now , and ivould not declare that they had tiventy copies of a Shakespeare folio as , it is said , ivas done latterly ; for ive presume it must be " like master like man , " ivhen AVC sec thc junior members of that august body in every conceivable and inconceivable lace during the hours of Museum businesssuch

p , as riding on tbe knife-boards of omnibuses up and down Tottenham Court-road , as if to draw inspiration from the names on thc facias ol the tradesmen's shops for materials towards their next poem , or slyly creeping into the reading room to finish the article already commenced behind thc scenes in the public time , for the paper or

magazine they write for . '' People living in glass houses should learn not to throw stones , " particularly at those who arc not so well provided for by the public as themselves . But , to resume , ive find thc names of some of our most prominent divines and literary men as visitors for thc jrarposc of study , "' id them DrsLoivthJortinBlairKeimicottand Jolm

among . , , , , - SOi ' , as ivell as Hume , Musgrave , Wray , Lord Morton , and others . - } gaui does the cynic peep out in this part of the preface , as the ( jst from ivhich the above names are taken concludes thus : — these are only specimens of the class of readers of that day . y'cre wei'c then no schoolboys coming for cribs , no smokers , no \ l \) Payers working out problems , nor " men of our college " nfor Punch that could not thc last

t S , or complaining they get lw « w ' ^" few days after its publication , " "What can be meant v .. ' i no Sln ° kers , " after stating Dr . Johnson Avas admitted a ¦ wuer , we are at a loss to understand . Nor can we see IIOAV those j ' ° stuc ty chess problems should be objected to any more than t ' be yei'S c ! . erli : s i nor t , fle y ° iing " men of our college" more than tliri 1161 -- ! ^' 110 colle S i not even that model establishment where iuc 7 paid extra for learning manners .

Passing onivards ii r e come to some of the old regulations , one oi AA'hich , in 1804 , declared that " no reader ( except in particular cases , at the discretion of the principal librarian ) will be entitled to more than two volumes at a time , but they may be exchanged as often as he may require . " After narrating several important changes with respect to the officersAA'e come to the time of the French revolutionand then

, , tind the foreigners to have hceu largely admitted . These readers ivere French refugees , AA-IIO had sought an asylum in our country , and to whom the stores of thc national library were freely accessible .

YVe are next favoured by some of the notabilities of our later literature . Sir Henry Ellis , Sir "Walter Scott , Sydney Smith , Charles Lamb , Mr . Hallam , and a Chinese gentleman , Yong Sam Tack , are cited as specimens of the time in question . "Wc are now arrived at the opening of the old reading rooms , and _ thc gift of thc king ' s library . After this ive come to Mr . Panizzi ' s scheme for / the IICAV reading room ; a design so excellent

and ivell known , that each of our readers must be thoroughly acquainted ivith it from thc descriptions inserted at the time in every journal in thc kingdom . Giving him the largest amount ol praise for thc idea , and its happy accomplishment , shall pass OA ' CI- the architectural-details to offer one suggestion as to the practicability of opening four , of the large squares of glass in Avindoivs situated N . S . E . and "W . so that the air in the dome

, may be purified day by day—a feat no " apparatus" can do so ivell as open AvindoAvs with a thorough draft . Proceeding onward AVC come to an order of the trustees in 1857 , " directing that the senior assistant keeper in thc department of printed books should be transferred to the chief superintendence of tbe neiv reading room . " And further on AVC learn he was " above all to afford all thc assistance in his power to readers in

their pursuits . " Air . Jones then goes on to say , —" The readers have thus placed at their disposal , for six hours every day , the services of a gentleman whose intimate knowledge ivith the Museum collections , extensive knoAvledge of the literature of his OAVII and foreign countries , and acquirements as a linguist rarely to be met with , render him peculiarly fitted to carry out the chief object of the trustees , as expressed in their order . The

very numerous applications made to Mr . "Watts , in his capacity of superintendent , shoiv thc importance of the appointment , and with what judgment thc trustees haA'e acted in thc selection of their officer . "

To this account of Mr . AVatts ' s fitness , no one AVIIO has had to consult him at any time can demur . Indeed , think it falls far short of his merits ; for not only is Mr . "Watts all , and more than Mr . Jones gives him credit for , but he is emphatically and truly a gentleman , a few more of Avhich genus AVC should have no objection to meet with in thc Museum employes . In . Mr . Watts , Mr . Panizzi , and thc officers of thc MS . department , who by the bye Mr . Jones

carefully ignores , lie the Avholo worth of thc Museum corps ; they are thc diamonds , set in the lead , that sparkle and shoiv the true light , whilst the others serve as the dull foil to bring out their purer value . "Wc next come to thc reading room staff . The superintendent , has already been spoken of ; the clerk , Mr . Glaiwill , who is ever readto aid and assistthe three attendants ivho take charge of

y ; the [ readers' tickets—men Avithout whom all who frequent the room would often be at a great loss ; the attendant AVIIO keeps the books put by from day to day , and Avho would be of much more value if he did not so wantonly throiv obstacles in the Avay ; and to the other attendants ivithout whose knoAA-lcdge and aid , cheerfully rendered but badly remunerated , the thanks of every rcadcr _ is due . It is to these last that the Museum readers are much

indebted ; they know books on every subject , where to _ find them , and to every inquiry arc ever ready to afford information . Should an increase of salary be afforded , as it is currently spoken of , it is to this class of the Museum officials that it should be madc ^ and not to those proposed , for they are well able from the sale of their very interesting works , and the handsome sums they obtain bwriting for & ivhilst they should be loyed on

y newspapers , c , emp other work , to magnanimously forego the increase , and petition for an augmentation to these attendants as the men ivho really do the ivork while they play . Thc list has been carefully and judiciously prepared by Mr . Rye , who really has done his work , and done it well , and he has added a classified index of subjects , which will greatly facilitate every reader in finding the information he requires .

Vicissitudes of Families , and other Essays . By SIR BER -NARD BURKE , Ulster King at Arms . Longman . THERE is an old saying , but a true one , that "truth is strangei