EARLY HI original of that a which WENDEBO wards, into Engl title of A View of Its author had German Congreg quenter of the M costly, worth seei taken altogether in its separate branc surpassed by some But the only colle superior, are the been formed by S View of England w Of the Museum numerous and valu spects, very defici cumscribed. When the Germ DEBORN'S book fi through the Muse tion of the other pressed round him to yield any inform stranger gratified t or two in explana Then came an exqu The gentleman 'took little pains to my communications description of the B a passage,' he cont in London as the Minister of a He was himself a studious freand says of it: The whole is honourable to the Nation; when t its equal. When considered in nost each of them singly may be collection even in England itself.' vhich he specifies as, in this sense, ian Museum, and that which had aton LEVER, and which, when the itten, belonged to Mr. PARKINSON. ry, WENDEBORN says, 'though a collection, it is yet, in many reand as to its use, much cir THE BRITISH Wendchorn, A View of England, vol. i, 323 325. BOOK II, HISTORY OF MUSEUM. own intrinsic importance to it. By degrees, statesmen have become convinced that such collections are much more than THE BRITISH the implements of a knot of professed naturalists, and the toys of the public at large. Slowly, but surely, the economic and commercial value of a great museum of natural history, as well as its educational value, have come saliently into view. And a wise enlargement of the contributions from national funds has had the excellent result of stimulating, instead of checking, the benefactions of individuals. MS. Addit., 6179, f. 61. Some of the particular steps by which so conspicuous an improvement has been gradually brought about will claim our notice hereafter, in their due order. If, for a long series of years, the degree of liberality with which these varied collections were shown to the Public at large scarcely accorded, either with their origin, or with the purpose for which they had been avowedly combined, it should be borne in mind that the Public' of 1759 was a very different body from the Public of a century later. It is only by degrees that indiscriminate admission to museums has come to be either very useful or quite feasible. There was a good deal of warrant in 1759 for the opinion recorded by one of the Trustees when the Rules were first under discussion. 'A general liberty,' said Dr. John WARD, the eminent Gresham Professor, to ordinary people of all ranks and denominations, is not to be kept within bounds. Many irregularities will be committed that cannot be prevented by a few librarians who will soon be insulted by such people [as commit abuses], if they offer to control or contradict them.' But, after all, the inadequate strength of the staff was the main cause of such of the restrictions as were chiefly complained of. Chap. 1. HISTORY OF original regulations, with but small change, re- Book II, in force for about forty-five years. How they EARLY will be best and most briefly shown by citing the ces of two or three notable visitors, at various during the last century. THE BRITISH MUSEUM. GROSLEY'S ACCOUNT OF IN 1765. 65, Peter John GROSLEY, an accomplished and keen-nchman, familiar with the Museums of Italy as well THE MUSEUM those of his own country, visited the new Museum, rded his impressions of it. With the building he -med. He had already seen many parts of Engnowhere any house that he thought worthy to be with Montagu House. He calls it 'the largest, stately, the best arranged, and most richly decotructure of its kind in all England. He made resits. What chiefly arrested his attention in the History rooms were the beauty of the papillonacea sing, he thought, all that either the old world w can supply in this kind'—and the strangeness of neral specimens brought from the Giant's Causeeland. The Printed Books he thought to be 'the part of this vast collection.' In one of the prinns, I saw,' he continues, not without astonishery fine bust of Oliver CROMWELL, occupying a hed place! He praises the courtesy with which Y and MORTON discharged, by turns, the duty of They show,' he says, 'the most obliging to explain things to the visitor, but,' he adds, ous truth, their very courtesy is wont to make r content himself with hasty and unsatisfactory hat he may not trespass on their politeness.' And makes a wise practical suggestion, which was to effect, almost half a century afterwards. der really to carry out the intentions of Parlia Book II, Chap. I. HISTORY OF MUSEUM. EARLY in 1759, the collections enumerated in the Foundation Act of 1753 had, it is seen, already received some notable THE BRITISH increase by gifts. The first donor was the House of Lords, by whose order the historical collections of Thomas RYmer, royal historiographer, and editor of the Fadera, were given to the Trustees, immediately after their incorporation. Then GROWTH OF followed, in 1757, the gift of the Royal Library and that of the Lethieullier Antiquities from Egypt. [See Chapter II.] HELPERS IN TION AND THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 1755-57. 1759.. DA COSTA'S COLLECTION. COLLECTOR. Correspond- The next donor, in order of time, was a Jewish merchant, and stock-broker, of humble origin, but of princely disposition. Solomon da COSTA was one of the many men who have done honour to commerce not merely by its successful prosecution, but by the conspicuous union of mercantile astuteness with noble tastes and true beneficence. His talents for business enabled him to make a hundred thousand pounds—which in his day was more, perhaps, than the equivalent of four hundred thousand in ours. He had made it, says a keen observer, who knew the man well, 'without scandal or meanness.' When wealth made him independent, he spent his new leisure, not in luxury but in hard labour for the poor. DA COSTA had come, from Amsterdam, into England, in the year 1704. His struggling Hebrew compatriots were among the earliest sharers in his bounty. But his heart was too large to suffer that bounty to be limited by considerations either of race or of local neighbourhood. To him, as to the Samaritan of old, distress made kinship. He was wont to journey, from time to time, through thirty or forty parishes of Surrey and of Kent, with the punctual diligence of a commercial traveller, simply to succour the distressed by that best of all succour, the provision of means through which, in time, self-help would be developed and ensured. Provident loans, clothing-funds, the educa |
