(London, 1836), vol. ii, pp. 103-4.
(London, 1850), 8 Feb.1849, pp. 272-85 (277).
5
The Reading Room in Literature
eBLJ 2019, Article 5
given in the catalogue, indicating where it stood on the library shelves. The book was then,
and not till then, procurable. With grim humour Carlyle called this indispensable ticket ‘the
talisman’, and bestowed anything but a benison on the framers of the regulation which made
necessary this, to him, harassing preliminary quest, one, moreover, sometimes altogether
unsuccessful. He maintained that all that ought to be incumbent on the reader was to give
the name of the book which he wanted, and that it was the duty of the librarian, without more
ado, to find it for him. If you go, he argued, into a shop to purchase something, you are not
expected to indicate to the shopman the whereabouts of the article to be purchased.
8
Espinasse also described James Cates who was in charge of the Reading Room from 1824 until
his death in 1855.
Fifty years ago the superintendent of the Reading-room was a venerable and fine-looking
old gentleman, who, in his customary suit of solemn black, and with his dignified
benevolence of manner, might have passed for a bishop or an archdeacon at least. His
antecedents, however, were not at all ecclesiastical. He had entered the service of the
Museum, in the opening decade of the century, from the household of the fourth Duke
of Grafton, to whom doubtless he owed his first appointment in the Library, whatever it
may have been. In his Grace’s household he was known as a pugilist of great skill, and
in later years he was fond of reciting incidents of boxing-matches in which he had taken
part. Years of service in the Library had made him familiar with the titles of books, but
very little with their contents. For those readers whom his dignified appearance deterred
from asking the superintendent of the Reading-room for information there was provided
a subordinate, whose appearance certainly could not have a similarly deterrent effect.
He was a little man with a face like a crab-apple, who eked out his doubtless scanty
income from the Museum by copying manuscripts. Consequently any and every fraction
of time withdrawn from this employment to satisfy the inquiries of readers involved a
corresponding pecuniary loss. Therefore his answers to querists [
sic
] were brevity itself,
and, as soon as the shortest reply was given, his upturned head was down again and his
pen resumed its scratch, scratch, scratch! What a transition in the superintendence of
the Reading-room from the venerable ex-pugilist and his crab-apple-faced deputy to
Thomas Watts and his accomplished as well as courteous successors!
9
Espinasse was one of the people who did not like Panizzi. The fact that the Keeper of MSS,
Sir Frederic Madden, was at daggers drawn with Panizzi endeared him to Espinasse, who in
consequence described him as ‘amiable and courteous’. I find it somewhat difficult to recognize
Madden under this description. Panizzi revolutionized the Department of Printed Books during
his period as Keeper from 1837 to 1856, but such a strong personality inevitably upset many
people. (In the 1840s, seeing a lady reader shake hands with one of the Attendants, he gave her a
solemn warning against the risk of familiarity with persons of lower rank.) The fact that Panizzi
was a foreigner did not increase his popularity, nor did his belief that he was always right.
There are constant criticisms of him in Madden’s voluminous and fascinating diaries. The
following extracts from the volume for 1857 illustrate Madden’s contempt for one of Panizzi’s
greatest achievements – the construction of the present Reading Room.
21 April. My brother came to luncheon and I shewed him the New Reading Room, which
is to be opened on the 8th May. A splendid room, but perfectly unsuited, I think, to its
purpose, and an example of reckless extravagance (having cost £150,000) occasioned
through the undue influence of a Foreigner. Had Mr P. been an Englishman, the treasury
would not have granted £20,000 for such a purpose! […] 2 May. At two o’clock I walked
8
Francis Espinasse,
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