CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. 'A Museum of Nature does not aim, like one of Art, merely to charm the eye and gratify the sense of beauty and of grace. 'As the purpose of a Museum of Natural History is to impart and diffuse that knowledge which begets the right spirit in which all Nature should be viewed, there ought to be no partiality for any particular class, merely on account of the quality which catches and pleases the passing gaze. Such a Museum should subserve the instruction of a People; and should also afford objects of study and comparison to professed Naturalists, so as to serve as an instrument in the progress of Science.'RICHARD OWEN, On a National Museum of Natural History, pp. 10; 11; 115. unting.—The Removal of the Sloane Museum from Chap. I. HISTORY OF practical good sense which had always been a Book II, characteristic in the life of Sir Hans SLOANE is EARLY st as plainly in those clauses of his Will by which es much latitude, in respect of means and agencies, MUSEUM. Hiscretion of his Executors and Trustees. It is seen, nple, when, after reciting some views of his own as methods by which his Museum should be maintained BOOK II, HISTORY OF MUSEUM. for public use, he adds the proviso-'in such manner as EARLY they (the Trustees) shall think most likely to answer the THE BRITISH public benefit by me intended.' He had a love for the old Manor House at Chelsea, and contemplated, as it seems, with some special complacency, the maintenance there of the Collections which had added so largely to the pleasures of his own fruitful life. But he was careful not to tie down his Trustees to the continuance of the Museum at Chelsea, as a condition of his bounty. They were at liberty to assent to its removal, should the balance of public advantage seem to them to point towards removal. Duke of to Duke of Shrewsbury. Chelsea was in that day a quiet suburban village, distant from the heart of London. As the site of a Museum it had many advantages, but it was, comparatively and to the mass of visitors and students, a long way off. The Trustees assented to a generally expressed opinion that whilst the new institution ought not to be placed in any of the highways of traffic, it ought to be nearer to them than it would be, if continued in its then abode. One of the first places offered for their choice was the old Buckingham House (now the royal palace). It was already a large and handsome structure. The charm of its position, at that time, was not unduly boasted of in the golden letters of the inscription conspicuous upon its entablature a 'Sic siti lætantur lares.' Edmund, Its prospects, as described not very long before by the Buckingham, late ducal owner, 'presented to view at once a vast town, palace, and a cathedral, on one side; and, on the other sides, two parks, and a great part of Surrey.' Its fine gardens ended in a little wilderness, full of blackbirds and nightingales.' Yet it was close to the Court end of the town. But the price was thirty thousand pounds. H BOOK II, Chap. I. HISTORY OF HOUSE AND other offer was that of Montagu House at Blooms- tagu House had been built about sixty years before ve. ood on the site of a structure of much greater archiI pretensions, erected for the same owner, only years before, from the designs of Robert HOOKE first Montagu House had been burned to the offer of Montagu House was accepted by the Trusid approved by the Government. It was found BOOK II, HISTORY OF CONSTITU MUSEUM TRUST. needful to make considerable alterations in order to adapt the building to its new uses. This outlay increased the eventual cost of the mansion, and of its appliances and fittings, to somewhat more than twenty-three thousand pounds. The adaptation, with the removal and re-arrangement of the Collections, occupied nearly five years. It was not until the beginning of the year 1759 that the Museum was opened for public inspection. When removed to Bloomsbury, it was but brought back to within a few hundred yards of its first abode. We have seen that according to the plan for the governTION OF THE ment of the institution which SLOANE had sketched in his Codicil of July, 1749, there would have been a Board of Visitors as well as a Board of Trustees. But, by the foundation Statute, enacted in 1753, both of these Boards were incorporated into one. Forty-one Trustees were constituted, with full powers of management and control. Six of these were representatives of the several families of COTTON, HARLEY, and SLOANE, the head, or nearest in lineal succession, of each family having the nomination, from time to time, of such representatives or 'Family Trustees,' when, by death or otherwise, vacancies should occur. Twenty were 'Official' Trustees, in accordance, so far, with SLOANE's scheme for the constitution of his Board of Visitors; and by these two classes, conjointly, the other fifteen Trustees were to be elected. The Official Trustees were to be the holders for the time being of the following offices :-(1) The Archbishop of Canterbury, (2) the Lord Chancellor, (3) the Speaker of the House of Commons, (4) the Lord President of the Council, (5) the First Lord of the Treasury, (6) the Lord Privy Seal, (7) the First Lord of the Admiralty, (8 and 9) |