214 BRITISH MUSEUM. 



the wants of even the ordinary enquirer. Ought there not to be 

 special scientific catalogues in the rooms for the consultation of stu- 

 dents? Are the attendants such catalogues? With respect to the 

 library the unanimous vote of the readers in the Museum would, we 

 are sure, decide on the inefficiency of the catalogues both of the 

 MSS. and printed books, inasmuch as every person who has resorted 

 thither for any purpose beyond mere amusement must have expe- 

 rienced much inconvenience from the merely alphabetical arrange- 

 ment of Author's names. Indeed the trustees and officers themselves 

 acknowledged the imperfection, and had resolution to go on for five 

 years in making a classed catalogue, on which more than 5000/. was 

 spent. Would that they had possessed resolution enough not to 

 have abandoned their virtuous plan! Alas! the whole has ended 

 in the formation of a comparatively useless alphabetical catalogue. 

 The literary public are the sufferers, and in themselves reside the 

 means of full satisfaction. 



Nothing connected with the Museum has given more dissatisfac- 

 tion to the public than its difficulty of access. In a public a na- 

 tional institution supported by the nation, the convenience of the 

 people at large should be the first consideration, and every effort 

 should be made, whatever the sacrifice, to make the place available 

 for amusement and instruction. This has not been done either with 

 respect to the collections or the library. The collections are shut on 

 those days and during those hours when a great mass of the people 

 desiring information can alone afford to visit them, and thus they are 

 virtually excluded from all the inestimable benefits derivableTrom 

 them. Not to over-state the matter, at least 50,000 intelligent 

 members of the metropolitan community, who would under more 

 favourable circumstances visit the Museum, are virtually excluded. 

 With respect to the library, many gentlemen who ornament their 

 professions and literary societies men who hold exalted stations 

 as professed men of letters are excluded from the library, by the 

 exercise of those honourable professions which give them their high 

 standing in society. 



There are other deficiencies and abuses connected with the Mu- 

 seum which have been brought before the public; but as the whole of 

 the evidence is not yet published we refrain from any other expo- 

 sures. 



Tt is surely, then, not a small consideration, if the constitution of 



