33 



an important duty, that of protecting the Library from the 

 depredations of dishonest persons ; Second, his want of 

 courtesy and consideration for the public, as evidenced by 

 his vexatious and irritating rules ; and Third, the unwise 

 restrictions by which the public is prevented from making 

 full use of the Library. The writer is a man whose words 

 will have weight, for the Aihenceum justly takes a high place 

 in the literary world of all countries. It is clear, too, that 

 he is a scholar and a gentleman ; that he desires to be as 

 moderate and conciliatory as the subject will allow 3 and 

 that he is thoroughly acquainted with the subject of which 

 he writes. If this testimony stood alone it would be suffi- 

 cient to inspire grave doubts as to the fitness of Mr. Jones 

 for the post he occupies. But as my readers see, it is very 

 far from being a solitary proof. 



I now propose to put in an extract, a letter which Mr. 

 Walter Thornbury recently addressed to the Times respect- 

 ing the atmosphere of the Reading Room, which, though 

 not so horrible as that of the Den, is, especially towards 

 the close of the day, very disagreeable and unwholesome. 

 Mr. Walter Thornbury says : 



"I have heard complaints from fellow-students of frequent head- 

 aches, faintness, and langour towards the end of the day, as the air, 

 originally bad and never renewed, grows thicker and more deleterious. 

 I myself have frequently, during the last five years, felt the same 

 symptoms as my friends, but, being of a robust constitution and much 

 addicted to exercise, I have never thought much about it. A severe 

 illness, however, in the summer of this year, and the recent lamentable 

 deaths of two specially-gifted men in the Printed Book Department — 

 the chief rooms of which are sunk many feet below the level of the 

 Reading-room — have opened my eyes to the disagreeable fact that I 

 and hundreds of far better men than myself have been for half their 

 lives labouring to amuse or benefit their fellow-creatures in an atmos- 

 phere, to say the least of it, unconducive to longevity. The Reading- 

 room of the British Museum is, in fact, no better than a huge fern-case." 



Mr. Thornbury also mentions the insulting exclusion of the 

 Archbishop of Dublin, alluded to by the Athe?i(zum, and he 



