156 Zoology. 



gardens and appurtenances, occupying in the whole an area of 

 seven acres and twenty perches of land, was ceded by the 

 representatives of the Montague family for the moderate sum of 

 £10,000." 



" The necessary repairs (which, the house having stood long 

 empty, proved very expensive) were immediately proceeded 

 upon ; and the proper book-cases and cabinets having been 

 completed, and the collections removed thither and properly 

 distributed and arranged, the Museum was at length opened for 

 study and public inspection, on the 15th of January, 1759. 

 Besides the £20,000 paid for the Sloanean, and the £10,000 for 

 the Harleian Collections, and £10,000 for Montague House, the 

 sum of £28,663 15s. was laid out in the purchase of £30,000 

 Three per cent. Reduced Annuities, and appropriated to the 

 maintenance of the establishment ; and the remaining 

 £26,531 3s. 2d. raised by the Lottery scarcely sufficed to defray 

 the expenses of repairs, cases, furniture, removing the collections, 

 and various other incidental charges." 



From such small beginnings did the great Zoological Depart- 

 ment develop into its present position. 



A history of Montague House is to be found in Timbs' 

 " Romance of London." The original house was burnt down in 

 January 1686. The second house was variously described as a 

 " mansion " and as a " palace." It must have been splendidly 

 built to have borne the weight of some of the exhibits, such as 

 fossils, meteorites, etc., on the upper floors. The "Synopsis" of 

 1808 gives us some idea of the building, which was surrounded 

 by gardens and a high wall ; and a picture, with plans of the 

 various rooms, is to be found in Edwards' " Lives of the Founders 

 of the British Museum," 8vo, 1870. When the present British 

 Museum replaced Old Montague House, in 1845, the gardens 

 were done away with and the outer wall abolished, being 

 replaced by the iron railings and the smooth lawns of the 

 present day. 



In the old days the procedure of those visiting the Museum 

 was as follows : — 



" On entering the gate of the Museum a spacious quadrangle 

 presents itself, with an Ionic colonnade on the south side, and the 

 main building on the north [it measured 216 feet in length and 

 57 in height to the top of the cornice] ; the two wings being 

 allotted for the dwellings of the officers. The architect, Peter 



