OF FREE PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN CANADA. 15 
whereof—in their respective positions—they must necessarily be occupied. The worth 
of such knowledge can scarcely be overrated ; and this consideration alone should suffice 
to induce all well-wishers of Canada’s advancement to favour the setting up of free public 
libraries in every possible direction. 
But it is not merely on account of their practical utility that these institutions are 
desirable. Amusement and recreation are essential to humanity. A public library is not 
only helpful to the student and the brainworker in their graver pursuits, it should likewise 
supply the means of entertainment for all. My long experience as a literary caterer 
enables me to assert that no men enjoy a well written novel with keener relish and none 
derive more refreshment from its perusal than the hard-worked lawyer or politician, to 
whom such recreation is often as much a necessity as it is a gratification. 
Moreover, by the judicious supply of a due proportion of fiction in every free library, 
you interest a larger section of the public in its support. You will thus enlist the ladies 
on your side, and will delight the young whilst you satisfy the old. Readers for mere 
pastime will probably constitute the majority everywhere ; yet even amongst this class 
many may be weaned, by the attraction of entertaining books, from the gross but seductive 
pleasures of sensual indulgence. 
There are very few public libraries in Europe or America that do not contain a consi- 
derable number of novels. From an estimate carefully prepared some years ago, I assume 
that our library of Parliament has a much smaller proportion of light reading than any 
corresponding collection on either continent, with two or three exceptions. But on refer- 
ring to the statistics of the Manchester free library—which is perhaps the best selected, 
if not altogether the largest of the kind in Great Britain—the proportion of fiction to 
other works read in the library is about one-third, so that for every book of mere amuse- 
ment perused in that institution two works of solid instruction are consulted. But, in 
addition, books are loaned to outside readers. To such the proportion offiction distributed 
is greater. It includes five-eighths of the entire circulation of the year. 
The average circulation of books in and out of the library of Parliament, for three 
years in succession, affords us very similar results. Of books read in the library, or 
consulted during session, fully two-thirds are of a solid useful description, whilst of 
those loaned to the general public, out of session, probably five-eighths are works of imagi- 
nation. 
The annual additions to the library of Parliament in the shape of fiction are few and 
not costly. We possess a large though not a complete collection of the standard British 
noyelists. These books could scarcely be omitted from any free library, for the reasons 
already stated. But, on the other hand, the guardians of such institutions, in the selec- 
tion of books, should be careful to exclude from their shelves all works which have a 
tendency either to subvert the public morals or to encourage the spread of infidelity. They 
should be alive to the great responsibility of placing within indiscriminate reach books 
which are calculated to undermine morality or religion. If individuals insist on perusing 
such works, let it not be at the public expense, or in depositories accessible to the public 
generally. 
Upon the opening of the Manchester free library in September, 1852, many persons of 
distinction in literature assembled to do honour to the occasion. Amongst the number 
was Charles Dickens. Called upon for a speech, he said, with his customary felicity, 
