2 9 



reports, and letters upon letters, with keepers who are to 

 be found in the next room. This is found a pleasant way 

 of filling up time after the great work of the office, which 

 is a constant and minute examination of the diaries, which, 

 by the way, have, every one of them, been previously and 

 sufficiently examined by the heads of the respective de- 

 partments. Pray, is this the sort of management that 

 Englishmen want, and are content to pay for ? 



One more instance and I have done with illustrations. 

 There was, in the Library, an assistant, by name, Major, 

 an intimate friend of Mr. Jones, if, at least, such address 

 as " my dear Dick" implies intimacy. But in the Library 

 Mr. Major could not receive more than/^500 a year, which 

 is an intolerable fate for a friend of Mr. Jones. Was, 

 then, a place created for him ? No, not a place but a 

 Department ! Notwithstanding the strong opposition of 

 the late Mr. Watts, Mr. Jones represented to the Trustees 

 that it would be a good thing to separate the Maps from the 

 Printed Book Department. Thus was made a keepership 

 ^500 a year for "my dear Dick" with a staff of two assistants 

 and three attendants. I will not say a word against Mr. 

 Major, personally, but I will assert that the separate de- 

 partment was not called for by any public interest, and 

 that its separation from the Printed Book Department, 

 already provided with a large staff, was not necessary, and 

 would not have been thought of but for the necessity of 

 making a post for Mr. Major, and I will defy Mr. Jones to 

 prove the contrary. 



To do him justice Signor Panizzi never contemplated the 

 establishment of a system of promotion by favour. He 

 created the office of transcriber, at the time he was keeper 

 of the Printed Book Department, with the idea that the 

 transcribers would in the performance of their duties be an 



