October, 1891. 



OUR COLUMNS. 



39 



sire. In Brussels you can take your stand before the beautiful Hotel de Ville, and think 

 of the execution of Counts Egmont and Horn on the scaffold in that Square. You can see 

 the monument in their honour, surrounded by the statues of Orange and other patriots ; 

 near at hand your can read the tablet recording that there once stood the house where met 

 the nobles, and then follow their march as they went two and two to petition the Regent 

 against the Spanish Inquisition, returning to drink deep healths in honour of their cause as 

 " Beggars." In Antwerp you can see one portion of the old Spanish citadel remaining, or 

 can ascend the Cathedral tower and trace where, over the winding Scheldt, Parma threw 

 his bridge, and fortified the dykes till Antwerp was starved. Over the border in Holland 

 are Brill, Harlem, Leyden ; and round each name Motley has cast a spell. 



N.B. — Other authorities are to be found in Introduction to English History, by 

 Messrs. S. R. Gardiner and Mullinger. 



(To he Continued. J 



2Dn jTree libraries ^upporteD Jfrom Cf)e Bates* 



By George Huest, F.S.S., kc. 



■P^-'HE account of the rise and progress of the Bedford Literary and Scientific Institute 

 "T^! and General Library, given in " Our Columns," is a valuable record of the Institu- 

 l3 tion, and as it extends back to the formation of the collection of books in the 

 beginning of the last century, it receives additional importance. It brings into a compact 

 form particulars scattered among various sources, many of which are not easily accessible. 

 The wonderful accessions to the Library made Avithin the last half century, indicate that 

 its growth has been in proportion to the extraordinary advancement of the town of 

 Bedford in a population of a superior class. The accommodation in the Reading 

 rooms, and the collection of books and periodical literature is seldom equalled even in 

 towns of greater magnitude, and the possession of the building is an important acquisition, 

 as it is very extensive, convenient, and of considerable architectural pretensions. The 

 advantages secured to the subscribers are very considerable in proportion to their contribu- 

 tions, costing less than one penny per diem for full membership, and a mere fraction for 

 the evening subscribers. 



In the town of Bedford there are also many other establishments where at an almost 

 nominal charge peoi:)le may indulge their tastes in reading literature of all kinds — 

 intellectual, sectarian, or political. The Working Men's Institute is an admirable 

 Society, and the various clubs and religious communities have generally libraries, in some 

 of them instruction being given by lectures on various important subjects. The town 

 having all these intellectual advantages, the question may arise whether a Free Library, 

 which has been frequently advocated, is at all required. Most certainly there can be no 

 necessity for a Free Library, and it may be doubted whether in these advanced times 

 there can be any need for them in other localities. 



Considering the chea23ness and the accessibility of all kinds of literature, can it be 

 desirable to pauperize people by giving them the use of Libraries supported from the 

 rates ? Clearly those who avail themselves of these Institutions, provided from the public 

 taxation, are in some degree pauperized. Whatever may be advanced, or whateA*er may 

 be stated by Acts of Parliament, the fact remains that pauperism consists in receiving 

 unearned assistance from the public taxation, and a book supplied from the public 



