expense, to illustrate the various styles of architecture in different countries; but if he had depended on the British Museum for aid in this undertaking, he would have found at the very outset the want of "La Description d'Egypt," the grand ouvrage, as it is proudly termed by the French, projected by Napoleon, and finished, mirabile dictu, under the exRoi, Charles Dix! It is more surprising, however, to find Mayer's Views in Palestine and in the Ottoman Dominions wanting, as these have been recently published by a house, many of whose publications make most inexplicable escapes from the encouraging tax; for not to mention others, we miss the Analysis of Raffaelle's Transfiguration, by Figueroa, translated by Gaubaud, and published by the same house in 1817. With at least half-a-dozen other instances equally glaring, it is but fair to ask whether or not Messrs. Treuttel and Wurtz have any friend in the management of the Museum library, who winks at their contravening the statute; or to demand of the Museum officers in what other way this house contrives to procure exemption from the tax. Mr. Britton would likewise find Grindlay's China wanting. We also miss De Lairesse's Art of Painting, Englished by Fusock; Jefferies' Ancient and Modern Dresses; and Hamilton's Ancient Costume of England.

If, again, a medical man expect to find all the works which he may want to consult, and which ought to be in the library, he will meet with similar disappointment. It is well known that the Pharmacopoeia of the Royal College of Dublin, published in 1826, puts to utter shame that of the London College published only two years before, and which has furnished for the last seven years a laughing-stock to the profession, and a proof of the scientific imbecility and ignorance of the exclusive conclave in Pall Mall East. We wonder why such a man as Dr. Paris, as profound in medical chemistry, as he is capable of embodying his knowledge in elegant and perspicuous diction, is not so ashamed of his colleagues of the college, as to withdraw from their body. Yet the Dublin Pharmacopaia, decidedly the best in Europe, as well as Dr. Barker's admirable “Observations" upon it, are not in the Museum; and so ignorant are our druggists of its superior preparations, that when Dr. Ryan, the learned and clever editor of the Medical Journal, prescribed one of these excellent Dublin medicines, it could not be procured in Londen,—one proof among many of the decline of science in our metropolis. We might perhaps excuse the absence of M. Jourdan's Pharmacopée Universelle, a work of extraordinary research and indispensable utility, but why not have the accurate English translation of this book, edited by Mr. Rennie? Among other recent medical works, we miss Dods on the Spine, and the very splendid and accurate work of Mr. Swan on the Demonstration of the Nerves, which, we are bold to say, reflects honour on the age and country which has produced it.

We find also wanting, among the highest class of anatomical works, Cruikshanks on the Lymphatics, and the unrivalled production of Mascagni, on the same subject; besides Scarpa's splendid work on the Ear; Swurlt on Comparative Anatomy; and (proh pudor!) Dr. Barclay on Muscular Motion.

66

The other gentleman, Mr. Stephens, to whom we alluded above, has in some respects less cause to complain than Mr. Britton; for his principal work, “ Illustrations of British Entomology,” is not in the catalogue, where it has as undoubted a right to be as the similar work of Curtis, which is there. Mr. Stephens, however, engaged in his extensive undertaking to describe all the known species of British insects, to which, at the commencement, he proposed to devote ten years of his life, with the distinct knowledge of the tax-amounting, when his work shall be completed, to more than 2207., and already up to 701., sums of themselves sufficient to

frighten any publisher from venturing his capital, and accordingly Mr. Stephens has had to run the risk himself. Now let us look at the aid given by the British Museum to this laborious but hazardous undertaking. Two of the very first, works which Mr. Stephens would require to consult, Marsham's Entomologia Britannica and Haworth's Lepidoptera Britannica, are not in the library, and, to add to the evil, Haworth is so scarce as not to be had for money. Another indispensable work, according to Mr. Stephens' Views, is MacLeay's Annulosa Javanica, 4to, London, 1825, a flimsy production, the very effrontery of which, however, in pretending to trample upon Buffon and other superior writers, renders it important to have the presumptuous author put down by a man like Mr. Stephens, who possesses the requisite knowledge. This Annulosa is not in the library, no more than its worthy companion, Dr. Horsfield's Lepidopterous Insects, the latter author being further favoured, we perceive, by his Planta Javanicæ, published by Treuttel and Wurtz (!!), not being in the library. Mr. Stephens will likewise have to complain of the want of the splendid philosophical work of James Wilson of Edinburgh, entitled Illustrations of Zoology, which, though not confined to insects, contains several articles on the subject of high value. We may say the same of Thomson's Zoological Researches, published by Treuttel and Wurtz (!!!) In foreign works Mr. Stephens will find the deficiencies altogether unpardonable, when viewed in conjunction with the sums expended under the influence of the shell-mania and other trumpery inanities. The first deficiency we observe is Blainville's Principes d'Anatomie Comparée, a very outré though valuable work, and we could enumerate fifty others of equal or superior importance to his studies, among others some of the best works of Ahrens, Bilberg, Coquebert, Cramer, Clairville, Fallen, Fischer, Germar, Gyllenhal, Herold, Hübner, Illiger, Knorr, Latreille, Lehmann, Meigen, Ochsenheimer, Panzer, and Schellenberg. It appears farther that these works are far from being unknown to the officers of the Museum, for Mr. Children has been and is, we believe, publishing a series of papers on the arrangement of Lepidoptera according to Ochsenheimer, and in his notes thereto refers to many works not in the Museum library. It may be that the want of such works (which the library ought to supply to heavily taxed authors) is one of the main causes that obstructs the regularity of Mr. Stephens's extensive undertaking, and causes the subscribers to complain loudly against him,* when they ought rather to be thankful for his extraordinary exertions to overcome oppression.

In other departments of Natural History, the deficiencies are equally glaring. It will scarcely be credited, that out of several translations and abridgments of Buffon, (one in 4 vols. by Wright, not long published), the library possesses not one; and is equally without the original, except the little 12mo, of " Morceaux Choisis," by Ventouillac. When this was publicly stated several years ago, it was replied, that there are two editions of Buffon, one in 4to., the other in 12mo., in the library; our evidence, however, rests on the catalogue, where these do not appear; and Museum readers know well, that when a book is asked for which is not in the catalogue, the under librarians cannot find it, the catalogue being their sole guide. This gentleman, who was so fortunate as to find two where we cannot find one, himself complains of volumes being wanting in the Academic Collections of the Academie des Sciences de Paris, and those of the Academies of Berlin, St. Petersburgh, Turin, &c.; but we need feel the less surprise at this, when we find that the last published parts of the London Linnæan Transactions are not in the library.

VOL. I. NO. V.

* See Loudon's Mag. of Nat. Hist, for July.

RR

590

MISMANAGEMENT OF THE LIBRARY OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

It is therefore less wonderful that we find wanting the Transactions of the Natural History Society of Strasburgh-of the Linnean Society of Normandy, and of the Natural History Society of Bordeaux; and, among our own periodicals, Loudon's Magazine of Natural History, and several others. In Ornithology we find Montagu's Supplement to his British Birds ; Sir William Jardine's Illustrations; Selby's Illustrations; Werner's Atlas ; Sepp's Nederlandsche Vögelen; Mayer's Vögelen; Le Vaillant's Perroquets; Vieillot's Oiseaux d'Amerique; and Bonaparte's American Ornithology, which are among the leading books on the Science.

In Botany we find equal deficiencies; such as Brongniart's French work on the Organization of Vegetables; and, among British works, Petiver's Pterigraphia, Petiver's Catalogue of Ray's Herbarium; Swayne's Gramina Pascua, Graves on British Grasses; Milne's Indigenous Botany; Petiver's Concordance of Grasses; and even Professor Lindley's Synopsis of the British Flora, and Loudon's Hortus Britannicus.

In Geology we have blanks in the catalogue no less glaring; such as Goldfuss's Petrifaktenkunde, a splendid production; Brongniart's Vegetaux Fossiles; Hoffmann, on the Geology of North-West Germany; the Journal de Geologie; De Caumant's Essai Geologique du Calvados; Leonard's Jahrbuch für Geologie; and Sternberg's Fossils.

It would be easy for us to extend these notices of deficiencies to any length, as we have a numerous list of books we have not mentioned; but we shall conclude with two very flagrant cases, as they relate to the works of the officers of the Museum; one is, Dr. Leach's Malacostraca Podopthalma Britanniæ, which is not in the library, though the specimens of crabs, lobsters, prawns, &c., in the Museum, are partly arranged according to the novel system of this work!!! The other is Gray's Indian Zoology, published, it is worthy of remark, by Treuttel and Wurtz!!! Does this proceed from favouritism, or whence? We have certainly a just right to put this question, and to demand a specific reply.

The encouraging statute which enacts the library tax, sweeps under its oppression new editions as well as new books; but here the tax seems the most partially levied of all, for we can scarcely obtain any new editions at the Library. We should not complain if this applied to a stereotyped work like Loudon's Encyclopædia of Gardening, which, to the great grief of the excellent author, cannot be improved without melting down the plates; nor Kirby and Spence's Entomology, the fifth edition of which is far behind the state of knowledge, and contains only about half a dozen pages more matter than the first. But this is not the case with Daniell's Meteorological Essays, Hooker and Taylor's Muscologia Britannica, Forster's Atmospherical Phenomena, Bakewell's Geology, Journal of a Naturalist, third edition, Cooper's Surgical Dictionary, Good's Study of Medicine, Sir H. Davy's Salmonia, and hundreds more of which the library possesses only the old and inferior editions.

If some immediate steps are not taken to rectify these serious inconveniences to authors, upon whom the library tax is so grievous an oppression, it would be well to bring the matter before Parliament without delay. We know not where the fault rests, but we have deemed it our duty to state such facts as have come to our knowledge. One thing admits of no doubt, that the officers are fairly if not handsomely remunerated for their labours, and if they do not attend to their duty, (one part of which, it would appear, is to sue publishers who do not obey the statute,) they ought to be amenable to that public out of whose pockets their salaries are drawn, as a portion of the national taxation. We believe that the collection of specimens, &c., in the Museum itself, is still more grossly mismanaged than the library, and we are making some inquiries on the subject, which we may probably bring forward in a future

page. One thing must have struck every visitor,-namely, the half-empty show cases of insects, the blank spaces ticketed with sounding names, but no insects, a "beggarly account of empty boxes," the specimens having been carefully concealed for at least ten years in the private cloisters, for the especial use of the officers and their friends.

Now, indeed, there is a single table containing a small number of mixed insects, though the indigenous species amount to above 10,000. Still there are names without insects, as there are numerous quadrupeds, and even shells (! ! ! without names.

It is not so at Paris; it was not so even under the tyrannical and imbecile Bourbons: then why should it be so in a country like Britain, pretending to freedom, to learning, and to liberality ? We are not, however, disposed to chime in with the alleged superiority of the Paris establishments over our own, except in the greater freedom of access which they afford. At the boasted Royal Library, in the Rue Richelieu, for instance, to which we went last autumn in order to consult some books we could not procure at home, one of the librarians, without asking either our name or country, brought us a volume of the grand ouvrage on Egypt; but the only table in the room, not larger than a cottage dining-table, was already pre-occupied by three gentlemen, so that there was not an inch of room for us to unfold the grand ouvrage in double elephant folio. Seeing a spare corner of a table in the next room vacant, we naturally made our way towards it, but the librarian would not permit the book to be taken out of its own apartment, and unless we had chosen to squat like a Turk on the wainscot floor, we could not open the book, which we were therefore compelled to re-deliver unopened. This is one specimen of the boasted Parisian accommodations for study, and we could easily enumerate many more, but such as are all of minor moment to the abuses we have pointed out in our own establishments, and which, if not rectified soon, we shall take more efficient means than this notice to bring before the public, should the proper authorities decline to interfere.

SONNET.

BY ALFRED TENNYSON.

CHECK every outflash, every ruder sally

Of thought and speech; speak low, and give up wholly

Thy spirit to mild-minded Melancholy;

This is the place. Through yonder poplar alley,

Below, the blue-green river windeth slowly,

But in the middle of the sombre valley,

The crisped waters whisper musically,
And all the haunted place is dark and holy.
The nightingale, with long and low preamble,

Warbled from yonder knoll of solemn larches,
And in and out the woodbine's flowery arches
The summer midges wove their wanton gambol,
And all the white stemmed pinewood slept above-
When in this valley first I told my love.

THE barber, who fell asleep the first, woke the soonest, and when I opened my eyes, I found that he had already untied our mules, and saddled them, and that I had only to throw my leg over my beast. Grey morning still hung in the defiles of the Sierra, though the highest peaks were touched with the earliest sunbeams, when we pricked our mules up the side of the hollow, and regained the high road; and as we jogged along side by side, at a very small trot, for the inequalities of the road, now that we had left the plain, prevented us trying the mettle of our mules, “ You perceive," said the barber, “that we are about to enter the Sierra Morena,* and, as near as can be guessed, at the spot where the Knight of La Mancha and his faithful Squire entered it."

66

I should think," said I, "that in so extensive a range as the Sierra Morena, it must be indeed guess-work, whether we hit upon the precise spot or not." "Not so much guess-work as you imagine," said the barber.

66

"Cervantes does not, as far as I recollect,” said I, “ give us any indications of the spot at which his hero entered the Brown Mountain; and besides, I perceive that we approach a house, which is nowhere mentioned," for just then, upon turning an angle of the rock, I observed a long low building, situated upon a small elevation on the left side of the road.

The barber, reining in his mule, which was always his custom when he wished to give peculiar emphasis to what he was about to say, delivered himself as follows:-"I must claim my privilege in correcting a small error into which your grace appears to have fallen. Cervantes did not write a road-book; he left that to Antonio Ponz. Don Quixote and his Squire did not fly in a balloon, and therefore they must needs have passed through the towns, and by the inns that lay in their way, but Cervantes did not think it necessary to notice any other places than those that are connected with his hero's adventures: 'tis no proof then that the Knight and his Squire did not enter the Brown Mountain at this point, because Cervantes makes no mention of the Venta de Cardena, which we must pass by," and having so expressed himself, the barber struck his heel against the flank of his mule and trotted on before, but stopping at the foot of the first acclivity, he explained the necessity of calling at the Venta, to lay in a stock of provisions, for" in the heart of the Sierra," said he, "we can scarcely expect to find the pot boiling."

This reasoning being conclusive, I followed the barber to the door of the Venta, which we entered, after having given our mules in charge to a serving wench, for in the Southern parts of La Mancha, women are generally employed in waiting upon the mules, as well as the guests. We had no sooner entered the Venta, than the barber and the Posadero approaching each other, suddenly stopped. Es posible? exclaimed both, at the same moment, "Lazaro!" said the innkeeper, with an incredulous stare; "Juanes!" said the barber, with a look of almost equal incredulity, "is it indeed thee, my old play-fellow, that I find master of the Venta de Cardena ?" and the recognition being complete, they embraced each other with every demonstration of regard. "Ah," said the barber, "many things have doubtless befallen thee, since the days when we played together in the vineyards about Manzanares." " Many things, truly,"

In the translations of Don Quixote, it is said that he entered the Brown Mountain. This is merely a translation of Sierra Morena, morena signifying brown.