106 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 



Uontaga 



House, 



BloomsbnTy. 



Growth, of 



Collections 



necessitating 



additional 



space. 



The valuable collection of manuscripts formed by Sir Eobert 

 Cotton at the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seven- 

 teenth centuries was already the property of the nation, having 

 been presented by his grandson, Sir John Cotton, in the year 

 1700. The Harley Collection was obtained by purchase at 

 the same time as the Sloane, and the three were brought 

 together under the designation of " the British Museum," placed 

 under the care of a body of Trustees,* and lodged lq Montagu 

 House, Bloomsbury, purchased for their reception in 1754. The 

 Museum was opened to the public on the 15th of January, 1759. 

 Admission to the galleries of antiquities and natural history was 

 at first by ticket only on application in writing, and limited to 

 ten persons, for three hours in the day. In place of being 

 allowed to inspect the cases at their leisure, visitors were con- 

 ducted through the galleries by officers of the house. The hours of 

 admission were subsequently extended ; but it was not until the 

 year 1810 that the Museum was freely accessible to the general 

 public for three days in the week, from ten to four o'clock. 

 The present daily opening, with longer hours in summer, dates 

 only from 1879. 



At the time of the foundation of the Museum, the site allotted 

 seemed amply sufficient for its purposes ; but gradually, as the 

 collections of all kinds increased, they outgrew the limits, 

 not only of the original Montagu House, but even of its 

 successor, the present classical building, completed in 1845 

 from the designs qf Sir Eobert Smirke. The erection of the 

 magnificent reading-room in 1857 disposed for a time of the 

 difficulty of finding accommodation for the ever-growing library ; 

 but the keepers of other departments continued urgent in their 

 demands for more space, and after much discussion of rival 

 plans for keeping the collections together and obtaining the 



' The Trustees under the Act of Incorporation were the Archbishop ot 

 Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, the Speaker of the House of Commons, the 

 Bishop of London, and the principal Officers of State for the time being ; six 

 representatives of Pounders' families ; the Presidents of the Royal Society 

 and College of Physicians ; and fifteen other Trustees to be elected by them. 

 Subsequently, the Presidents of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Royal 

 Academy of Arts, a Trustee by special nomination of the Sovereign, and three 

 more family Trustees were added to the Board. 



