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MR. EDITOR,

THE READING-ROOM,

In the classical retreat from which I had the honour last to come, there is an Institution, unparalleled for public utility, and which boasts great antiquity of foundation beyond what most establishments of the same kind possess. It is, perhaps, with a few exceptions, singular in the kingdom. It is a large and well stored public library, accessible at all times to all ranks of persons, without any recommendation or introduction, or the aid of any patronage. The founder was a pious old gentleman of the sixteenth century, of great local distinction, and possessed of large property, who certainly evinced much wisdom in originating an Institution, which, in this shape, has conferred such a benefit on succeeding generations. The library forms but a part of the entire establishment, which is one designed for the education, and maintenance, exclusively of poor unfriended children, for whom, to this day, the brightest fire blazes, the most portly joints smoke, and the long tables in the large and echoing hall groan with substantial cheer. The edifice is enclosed in a court, bounded by high walls, and is approached by a narrow but open passage, terminated by a small antique arch of stone, which appears to dread the threats of every whist ling blast. The fabric is built entirely of stone, in an ancient order of architecture, and exhibits a long range of buildings, which comprehend the various extensive apartments, included in the idea of a structure erected for the purposes of general benevolence. These consist of the spacious kitchen,-an apartment that was never forgotten by our ancestors in their foundations, the lofty hall, flagged with stone, in which the daily meals are apportioned, and a variety of other smaller rooms used in subordination to these two. At the top of an ascent up a flight of stone steps, the observer meets with the several apartments appointed for the superintendant of the library, and the suite of rooms devoted to the conservation of the books and curiosi

ties. For beside the reverend piles of ancient labour, bound in two vast sides of pasteboard, and embrowned by the hand of time, these sacred galleries shelter many invaluable relics of years gone by, which erect the Institution partly into a Museum. Under the whole is a range of cellars, well stored with the exhilarating juice both of the hop, and the kinder grape. The young pensioners for whom these disinterested provisions were made, are habited in a peculiar, and at present, antiquated livery; from which, however, no deviation has ever been made, as may be gathered from ancient representations preserved.

But to confine my attention to the subject of the library, that part included under its denomination which form the chief matter of curiosity in it, is the Reading-Room, whither the students under these roofs carry for perusal the books procured from the classes adjoining. For it requires to be mentioned, that lest the benefit should be abused, the rules of the Institution forbid books to be taken from within the walls of the edifice, and prescribe that they shall be consulted on the spot; terms with which persons possessing a real thirst after learning feel no difficulty in complying. And this is the general character of the town in question, where, in consequence of the minds of all being cultivated, their ideas liberalized, and the general conversation kept chaste and classical, with the toleration of habits, too, formed only on a model innocent and improving, numbers of men with feelings inclined to nothing but wisdom for her own sake, and with desires directed to nothing but the increase of literature, resort to enjoy the treasures of departed sages. This room is wainscoted with dark black oak, polished by age, and diversified with a variety of portraits and representations lung on its venerable sides. On a spectator's entering it, all looks strange :-strange chairs, strange tables, strange windows, a strange clock, strange maps, and strange pictures pour on his astonished view. You shall see here the portrait of

the founder, and the portraits of the various successive benefactors who sprung up in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; representations so characterized by gentility and amenity, so smiling and so engaging, and setting off so advantageously "the human face divine," that ladies, who have by chance strayed into this retreat of Trophonius, have been known to be enamoured of them, and to waste their lingering affections upon a canvass image.

Dispersed by the sides of the different windows, or assembled in winter round the bright coal fire, you are struck, at your entering, with the appearance of a number of phlegmatic, pale, emaciated students, with eyes bent down on the book beneath them, and as unconscious of your approach, as though between you and them there were a vacuum incapable of transmitting sound. A man, Mr. Editor, of your reading, must have heard of those temples in the East, dedicated to the worship of the Brahmin Deity, and in which the Lamas, the priests of their ceremonies, preside; wherein, by an edict having the sanction of religion, eternal unbroken silence reigns through the aisles, and those who minister and wait upon the revered rites have sacrificed their tongues to their office. A fanaticism, much of the same sort, binds the temporary tenants of these walls. The philosopher who enters with his folio in his hand, carried by volition acting upon the muscular arrangement across the boarded floor, subsides by the force of gravity into one of the wool-stuffed chairs; and, from that. time to the time when he rises to depart, fixes his eyes magnetically upon the pages, and speaks not, whispers not a syllable. Here is no friendly communication of sentiment, no amicable discussion of any extraordinary passage, no conversation to sweeten, relieve, and refresh the dull process of reading. It were verily worth the while of the present trustees of the establishment, to appoint a number of beardless boys in different sections of the room, to strike these philosophers on the pate, when their attention. was required to something said, and to

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communicate at the proper times the intelligence brought by the " Deputy," when he comes to announce to the company, "One o'clock, gentlemen," or "Four o'clock, Sir."

I mentioned that in the same repository, that contains the books, are preserved a variety of curiosities, the gifts of time and accident. These furnish an ostensible object to the strangers from the surrounding villages, and various distant parts of the country, to visit the building; to minister to whose gaping curiosity and astonishment the pensioned urchins, in just succession, attend on the bench on the outside; and, as they make the tour of the rooms, vociferate with shrill and immelodious voices the names of the several wonders: they describe the object with such rapidity as doubly to puzzle the spectator, and perform the task so perfectly like a sholastic lesson, that they can repeat it only in uninterrupted course; and, if accidentally interrogated, are lost beyond recovery. Nor are the intrusions, described, confined to the precincts of the classes only, but the lad approaches with sacrilegious step to point out the wonderful pictures, and wonderful furniture, in the hallowed room,

"Where heavenly pensive meditation dwells."

Not, however, do the monotonous and oft repeated accents disturb the reveries of Diogenes's sons. To sounds to which they are accustomed they feel no sensation: but if by chance a whisper to his neighbour proceeds from one of their own body, insufficiently initiated, each student with the uniformity of machinery raises his "o'ercharged head," stares for a moment with both his eyes at the irreverent violator of the chartered silence, and, having thus conveyed a reproach to the offender to his satisfaction, drops it again, like one of the Chinese images in a grocer's shop, and relapses into priineval inaction. All the men, whom you shall see of this sort, are of a figure sufficiently denoting their habits: their faces are meagre, and colourless, save that the jaundiced yellow mingles with the white. Had Horace lived and seen them, he would have sworn by his househola gods, that they had been drinking

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exsangue cuminum." Their hair is long and thin and deserves, as much as Sir Andrew Aguecheek's, to be well spun off by the dainty fingers of some domineering matron. Their limbs are nerveless, their general faculties live not in their native vigour, and their dress is of a colour that once was black, but which has been whitened by the pages of books, or the action of the fire, which they have found necessary to impel the frigid current of their blood. The asthma debilitates their lungs, and when they walk in the streets, or rise from the Reading-Room to depart, you shall observe them envelop their necks in a handkerchief that obscures the lower half of their face. Spirit of Democritus, arise and laugh them into action: vociferate in their ears, if thy transports will permit thee, the spring of thine own conduct, omnis virtus in actione consistit !"

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pocrates, and James, and Philosophical Reports, whence it was obvious he was endeavouring to cook up some new work, to come out in only four folio volumes, and six and thirty numbers-(to ensure him at once eternal fame and competence) either "de morbis mulierum," or "de formatione et secretione facium."

It results from these horrid symptoms, that my favoured town, once pure and delicate, the elegant retreat of half the muses and all the graces, threatens to become a mere workshop of literature, equal almost to the calamitous condition of the northern metropolis. A great majority of the attendants on the Reading-Room are young men, just exulting on their emancipation from parental leading strings, and in the newly-acquired masterdom over the operations of the pen. While beardless striplings frequent this room for intellectual metal, and then disThe greater number of the stu- patch their lucubrations, warm from dents have before them pen, ink, the mint, to the public press, we and paper, with which an accurate shall have no sound reading, and observer may see them, continually, no sound learning in the country. transferring from the book pas-"Patience, Good Heavens!" as Sysages here and there, in detached parcels, most suitable to their taste, or their purpose. Here sits the dry mathematician, with a paper before him filled with hieroglyphics worthy of an Egyptian sarcophagus, and all the volumes of Euclid, and all of Newton, and two or three other folios and quartos, illustrative of his subject. Here comes a man with the ancient books of Chaucer, and Webster, and Floyer, and a quire of paper in his hand, whom thence I knew immediately to be a writer for the "Retrospective Review," or the "Examiner.' One sat half hidden by an atlantean pile of Greek and Latin classics, which he had industriously congregated together; representing in his person the plagiarist, whom Dr. Blair decribes as endeavouring to lace the meanness of his own discourse with the tattered shreds of Cicero and Virgil. Another sat with Aristotle, and Machiavel, and Grotius, and "Oh, Oh!" said I to myself, "you are a writer for the daily papers:" and such he truly was, to judge from the string of detached sentences which he kept adding to his sheet. A fifth was sedulously drafting from Hip

phax says, shall old men be taught by their juniors, and worse than all, not know it or suspect it? this is inverting the order of nature. And it is actually a fact, that a day or two after I had visited this ReadingRoom, I was struck with the sight of articles in the different publications of the day, corresponding to those which, from the books before them, I had judged to be in preparation by the literati whom I had

seen.

The mathematician-in the G Magazine, had presented to the world a sum of new Algebraic calculations, and added a system of solutions not his own. Another work had given publicity to the pseudo-antiquary's criticism on "Floyer's small pieces." The hireling politician, callous to patriotism, had set half the country in flames with an article, laboured out of his brain with perfect calmness over an oak table: nay, and in two months afterwards, I was solicited by a little dirty affected man, to subscribe to a medical work, which I knew to be the same as he was manufacturing from old materials in the Lemnos of learning.

To so terrible a height does this

passion run, that the mind is unable to assign limit to its progress; and I am afraid the town will soon be as notorious for the fabrication of literary goods, as it is at present for that of stuffs, useful as articles of apparel. What then is the object, or the purpose to be served by this remonstrance? it is, to state it shortly, to represent, to the trustees or governors of this Institution the propriety of adopting certain regulations in their precincts, to stem the swelling tide. Imprimis :-let pen and ink be absolutely forbidden and banished from the room, and if any student shall be observed to draw a pencil from his pocket-book, or to dip a pen into an ink bottle, which he has smuggled in by suspending it within his breast pocket, let him be served by the Deputy with a notice not to trespass again on the ground, on pain of an action of law being commenced against him. Let the students be also forbidden to have out of the classes

more than one book at once, unless they be books of consultation or reference only. And provided also that, if it be a book in one of the learned languages, the "gentle reader" shall be indulged with a dictionary to make out the words, and an interpretation to lead him to the meaning. By these rules, and by confining them strictly to the simple process of reading, it is probable that they may benefit their minds, without exposing their littleness, or saturating the public taste with their milk and water beverage. If these suggestions are adopted, I shall hope when I make my next review of them, to be able to report to you, Mr. Editor, that there are much better prospects in future for the public palate; and that my honest friends are in a course, much more likely than before, to make them worthy of assuming the oracular tone to the younger generation.

CRITO.

LINES

TO THE MEMORY OF A LATELY DECEASED FRIEND.

Go, bright example of the Christian's life,

As friend, as sister, daughter, mother, wife!

By all these ties Heav'n bade thy worth be kuown,
Then call'd thee hence to make that worth its own.
Go, then, on angel's pinions borne, to live
Where sister spirits shall a welcome give;

Where those, who here thy home's pure circle blest,
Await thy coming to their realms of rest:
While they, who now thy early loss bemoan,
Suppress the selfish tear, the murmuring groan;
And while thy virtues still their thoughts employ,
Not on their sorrow dwell, but on thy joy;
And hope to meet thee on that smiling shore,

Where souls whom Heaven had join'd shall part no more.

AMELIA OPIE.

SKETCHES OF SOCIETY AND MANNERS IN LONDON

AND PARIS.

LETTER V.

From Sir Charles Darnley, to the Marquis de Vermont.

MY DEAR MARQUIS,

Paris.

You have had the goodness to send me so many letters of recommendation, that since they arrived I have found my whole time nearly occupied in delivering them. On

one of these occasions I met with so singular an adventure, that I cannot help relating it, as it is truly characteristic of national manners.

When I stopped at the splendid but delapidated hotel, in a distant part of the Faubourg St. Germain, of the Duchesse de

(to whom you will recollect having written an introductory epistle in my favour,) I was informed that her Grace was at home, and would receive me. I, of course, obeyed this summons, and delivered my credentials. She welcomed me with all that urbanity, which your ladies of the old court know so well how to assume when they wish to please. -She first spoke of you, and next of England, judging, very rightly, that my friend and my country were precisely the subjects on which I was most open to flattery.

I will not shock your modesty, by repeating all the civil things which she expressed on the former of these topics. I shall content myself with observing, that she was most lauditory. Her commendations of Great Britain and its inhabitants were equally enthusiastic. We were the saviours of the world, the restorers of peace, good order, and religion, while of her own government she spoke in very different terms. The poor King was mentioned with contemptuous pity, and said to be the dupe of Jacobinical ministers, who were ruining both his affairs and those of the nation. After this exordium, which disclosed to me her politics, the Duchess gave me a pathetic description of the sufferings to which she and the Duke, in common with all other persons, comme il faut, had

been exposed, during the too wellknown events of the late Revolution. "While, at length," continued she, " we saw our legitimate Sovereign restored, we naturally expected, not only that the property of which we had been robbed would be given up, but that we should be, in some degree, indemnified for our personal wrongs, by peculiar marks of royal favour.Think, then, of our disappointment:

of several of our estates which at different times had been made the prey of the spoilers, (except this hotel, which having been made a public office, during the usurpation, happened not to be sold, and was, therefore, given back,) not one has been returned; and even what little fortune, during these tremendous times, chance or prudence had preserved, is not left at our own disposal; for, by a democratic law, passed for the express purpose of destroying the importance of ancient families, parents are compelled to divide their lands, as well as their money, nearly equally among their children of both sexes."

After expressing herself in this manner with great energy, and shedding many tears, the Duchess proceeded to tell me, that for those who, like herself, were desirous of propping the falling honours of an illustrious house, but one means was left-that of restoring its wealth by advantageous marriages.

You will believe how much surprised I felt, at having such a philippick addressed to me; she saw what was passing in my mind, and added,-"Have patience, and I will explain why I have taken the liberty of troubling you with these remarks.

Many French persons of exalted rank have set the example, under similar circumstances, of allowing their sons to give their hands a des riches heritieres de votre pays,— even though of inferior pedigree, and not of the orthodox faith.

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