Chetham. The proof that the library has been opened to the public continuously since 1655 lies chiefly in the original purchase book. From this period down to the present time the records of the purchases are continuous, and written in a clear hand by the various librarians who have been in charge. A transcript of the first few lines of the first page is here given:"An acct. of the first parcell of Bookes for ye publicke Libraries of Humfrey Chetham, Manchester, is as following-Fol. 1. Received from Mr. John Littebury the 2 day of Augt. 1655, Augustini Opa.,

Vol. 8 Fol. £7; Aquinatis Suma cum coment: Cajet, Vol. 2, £1 14s.; Aristotelis Opa., Vol. 2, £1 18s.; Aquinatis, Catena in Evang., 9s.; Coment, in Evang. et Epist., Vol. 2, 178.; Opuscula Oma., 11s.; Quest disput. de. deo Xt., 10s.; Alvarez de (divina Gratia) Auxiliis, 7s.; Ambrosii Opa., Vol. 2, £1 10s." Only some eight to ten people per day consult the books in the library, but the whole of the buildings and the quadrangle form a great show place, and no tourists or excursionists consider that they have seen Cottonopolis until they have visited the Chetham Library.

The library is open from ten to four in the winter months and ten to six during the summer. But the library deserves an infinitely better fate than to be used as a mere show place, and some day, amidst the hurry and race for wealth, a good portion of the Manchester public will realize the fact that they have in the very heart of their city old buildings of considerable archæological value, and the home of literature of the first water, and from which fiction has been scrupulously excluded.

The reading-room, where the treasures of the library are freely placed for the use of the student, is a very paradise for the spirit seeking rest in this unrestful age. The walls are oak-panelled, and on them hang a number of portraits of Manchester worthies. One of these portraits is a veritable Gainsborough. Seated in this room on one of the high-back chairs of Charles II.'s time, and with all the other furniture of the same period, it does not require a great stretch of the imagination to repeople the old chamber with those who must have trod its floor centuries ago. In this very room there probably walked Sir Walter Raleigh, who was entertained there by Dr. Dee. One is tempted to linger in this quaint old place surrounded by its lore of literature and archæology, but we must forbear.

Without desiring to enter minutely into the question of which really was the first, it does appear that, so far as Bristol and Manchester are concerned, the former place is the older foundation and Manchester the older building. Furthermore, the latter place presents the unique fact of an uninterrupted record of free use since 1655 in the same rooms and the same building.

A matter of almost equal interest to the foregoing is the discovery a year or two ago by the librarian of the Wigan Public Library, of a tract issued in 1699 bearing the title, " An Overture for Founding and Maintaining of Bibliothecks in every Paroch throughout this Kingdom." The author of this production has been identified as the Rev. James Kirkwood, minister of Minto, so that the "kingdom" referred to is undoubtedly Scotland. In clear and forcible language the writer points out the great usefulness of parochial libraries, especially to the young student before "the cares of his family or the affairs of his calling do so take up his mind that he can have no time nor heart to study." This is capital. He then urges parochial authorities to secure the establishment of a library in each parish. Mr. Kirkwood proposed that after a suitable place had been provided and placed under the superintendence of the schoolmaster, the minister should send to it all his private books, and be paid for them by an annual tax on the income of the parish. This appears a little singular in the light of to-day. The general expenditure was to be met by the levying of one month's "cess" upon all church incomes, a method which would, in Mr. Kirkwood's opinion, have realized £72,000 Scots or £5,000 sterling. Such a sum he expected to be more than sufficient for the purpose intended, and he therefore proposed that the surplus funds should be used in founding a national printing office, which would be controlled by a Committee

of the General Assembly. "This founding and promoting of Bibliothecks in every paroch throughout the kingdom," he contended," is both necessary and easie, advantageous and honourable, our interest and our duty." A copy of this interesting old pamphlet is not to be found either in the British Museum or the Bodleian. It is reproduced in its entirety among the appendices in the third edition of the present book. The saddest thing about the whole matter is that, though nearly two hundred years have passed since the pamphlet was written, the intelligent appreciation of the wants of the country by which its author was evidently animated has not yet infected more than a comparatively limited number of his countrymen, although, taking the population into consideration, Scotland comes out exceedingly well, if the case of Glasgow is excepted.

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CHAPTER VI.

The Passing of the Ewart Bill of 1850.

EFERENCE has already been made to the voluminous report of the Select Committee on Public Libraries. On March 14th, 1849, it was ordered that a Select Committee be appointed on the best means of extending the establishment of libraries freely open to the public, especially in large towns in Great Britain and Ireland. The granting of this Committee was greatly due to the exertions of Mr. Ewart and Mr. Brotherton, who, at various intervals in 1849, had been agitating the question in the House of Commons. On the 23rd of the same month the Committee was appointed, and consisted of-Mr. Ewart, Viscount Ebrington, Mr. Disraeli, Sir Harry Verney, Mr. Charteris, Mr. Bunbury, Mr. George Alexander Hamilton, Mr. Brotherton, Mr. Milnes, The Lord Advocate, Mr. Goulburn, Mr. Thicknesse, Mr. Mackinnon, Mr. Kershaw, and Mr. Cardwell, all except one of whom have passed over to the majority. The first meeting of this Committee was on March 30th, 1849. Three meetings were held in April, eight in May, and four in June, making in all in that year sixteen meetings. Mr. Ewart was present, and took the chair at all the meetings except one. Mr. Brotherton was absent from only one. Sir Harry Verney and Mr. Monckton Milnes were regular attendants at these committees. Mr. Disraeli was present at two of the meetings. The report of 1849 was issued in July of that year, and consists of 318 pages. The evidence of the late Mr. Edward Edwards was first taken, and occupies thirty-six pages. He was also examined at a later date, his evidence again extending to about the same length. He also furnished a number of maps of his own compilation, showing the distribution of libraries in the leading countries of the world.

The report presented to the House of Commons by the Com

mittee provides very good reading even at this distant date. They begin by referring to the inquiries made in Parliament during the years immediately preceding the appointment of a Committee. These inquiries applied more particularly to the formation of museums, art galleries, as well as schools of design, as a means of enlightening the country. Right in the very foreground of this report there stands the admission that there were not at that time wanting those who held that such institutions, however successfully established among foreign nations, would not be appreciated, and might be abused by our own. Old prejudices in England die hard, and the same objection is now and again even yet made in some quarters. The Committee then shoot their big gun. They state that notwithstanding the fact that the British Museum, the gallery at Hampton Court, and the National Gallery had been thrown open to the people it was generally admitted that no abuse has marked the change, but that much rational enjoyment and much popular enlightenment have distinguished it. The heavy shot of the gun lies here. They say one improvement, however, yet remains to be accomplished, hitherto (in 1849) almost untried in this country, and that is the establishment of Public Libraries freely accessible to all the people. It was a humiliating confession for them to make that such libraries had long existed on the Continent, and they were further compelled to own that it could not be doubted that their existence had been very advantageous to literature and to the general character of the countries in which they had been founded. No one can deny that it was a just comparison for the Committee to make when they said that it might with equal fairness be inferred that our own literature as well as our own people being denied the benefit of such institutions must have proportionately suffered. They drove this home by saying that they had learned that more than half a century before 1849 the first step taken by an English writer was to consult a foreign Public Library on the subject of his studies, and that no such auxiliary was at the service of British intellect. They referred to Gibbon, who complained that in his time the greatest city in the world was destitute of that useful institution, a Public Library; and that "the writer who had undertaken to treat any large historical subject, was reduced to the necessity of purchasing for his private use a numerous and valuable collection of books which must form the basis of his work." They quote a number of similar cases. The usefulness of the Foreign Libraries is largely brought out, and altogether the report of the committee is forceful and suggestive. They point out that the principal advantages offered by Foreign Libraries consist in their number, in their entire accessibility, and in the fact that the books were allowed on liberal yet sufficiently protective conditions to circulate beyond the walls of the library.

It is unnecessary to go further into the details of the Committee's report. A digest of the evidence of Edward Edwards would be interesting, but the exigencies of the present book pre

vent its being done. Asked what had been the result of opening the National Gallery and Hampton Court Palace, he unhesitatingly said that large numbers of people had been withdrawn from amusements of an unintellectual and often of an injurious character, to such amusements as are rational and improving, and are calculated to benefit them in very many ways. He was asked if he thought that libraries would have the same effect, and replied that even in a greater degree if they were made generally accessible. This is where Edwards's warm-hearted enthusiasm showed itself. The immense and almost daily extension of London had, even at that early date, begun to show itself, and he was asked if the policy of creating Public Libraries was not daily becoming of more importance. He replied to this that he thought it was on several accounts. And this "not only from the growth of London making the actual existing provision of libraries more and more inadequate, but also from the fact that the increase in the production of books makes it still more difficult for persons, even those who have considerable private resources, to keep pace with what is produced both here and abroad. Therefore, that as it becomes more difficult for many persons adequately to purchase books, it is still more important that they should be provided in Public Libraries." Something like a realization of Edwards's hopes is now within sight.

Questions about the provision of libraries in manufacturing and commercial towns were then put to him, and he said that this was daily becoming a question of increasing importance. Asked what attempts had been made to supply libraries in large towns, he was compelled to own that only some attempts of an imperfect kind had been made by the mechanics' institutions. He produced a list of some of the libraries in Lancashire and Cheshire towns, but from the fluctuating nature of the resources of those institutions, and the want of permanency in them, such libraries often lasted but a short time, and were then dispersed and sold.

This must suffice for the report of 1849. The report published in 1850 is a continuation of this, and extends to over 400 pages. There was some slight difference in the constitution of the Committee. The first meeting was on the 4th March, 1850. They met again on the 7th, 11th, 14th, and 21st of the same month, and then adjourned in order to give time for the printing and translation of certain foreign papers relating to Continental Libraries. They afterwards met on June 4th, and the final meeting was on June 11th, making in all seven meetings. Mr. Ewart was present at every one of the meetings and acted as chairman. Mr. Brotherton attended five of the sittings, and the name of Mr. Disraeli does not appear as having been present at one of the seven. The first witness again examined was Mr. Edward Edwards, whose evidence was by far the most important of that laid before the Committee. The other gentlemen who gave evidence were Mr. Robert Lemon, chief clerk of the State Paper Office, Sir Henry Ellis, principal librarian of the British Museum,