The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-02-07 00:00:00

THE BRITISH MUSEUM

To anybody who is fond of books, or is a student, or even
believes himself a student, nothing can be more delightful
than a visit to the reading-room of the British Museum.
Not that reading in the museum is altogether without its
inconveniences, for it is not quite so easy as taking down a
book from your own shelves ; but then you are rewarded by
the feeling of reverential awe for the mass of learning with
which you are surrounded, and by the very air that you
breathe.
On entering the door of this far-famed temple of litera-
ture, you find yourself between two good-sized rooms, in
each of which fifty to seventy people may be seen sitting at the
tables, reading and copying. The walls are covered with
books, each room holding, at a guess, fifteen or twenty thou-
sand volumes ; a number that anywhere else would be thought

a good library of itself; but here that number only contains
the dictionaries, cyclopwdias, gazetteers, and other works of
reference that should be always at hand. On asking for the
catalogue, one of the attendants points to it at a desk by it-
self, where it stands most conveniently for the use of every-
body, in above forty volumes folio. Near this stands the
catalogue of the king's library, which is kept separate from
the rest of the collection, in about ten folios more ; and, most
wonderful to say, the new catalogue, which is now in the
course of printing, and which already extends to fifteen
large folios, though it has not as yet got beyond the letter A.
This, however, large as the library is, is stating the case
rather boastfully ; for these fifteen folios are interleaved,
showing as much the gigantic intention of the librarians, as
the present size of the library. A reader of experience will
not go to the museum unnecessarily ; he will wait till he has
three or four objects of search, or books to look at, noted
down in his memorandum book, to save time. With these
he goes up to the catalogue, and beginning with a book,
about the title of which he has no doubt, readily finds it, OS
the catalogue is formed on that simplest and best of all ar-
rangements, the A.B.C. He then copies the title, together
with its number, on one of the slips of paper which hang

ready at hand ; this he signs, and takes to a window at the
further end of the room, where an attendant receives it, and
delivers it to the librarian, to be searched for. In the
meanwhile, the economist of time returns to the catalogue
to copy out the titles of the other books he may have occs-
sion for, and then, with them returns to the window, in
hopes that the first book may by that time have arrived.
But, alas! he must wait a little longer ; and though he sees
a librarian come up, dragging a light truck laden with learn-
ing in all forms and shapes, his book has not yet arrived.
However, at last it comes, and he sits down to make his ex-
tract, and in due time the books are, one by one, brought to
him by the attendants. You may order any number of vo-
umes that you choose ; there is no limit to the heaps of
learning by which you may be surrounded, but your own
dislike to giving trouble ; and that fast wears off after a se-
cond visit. But, perhaps, one of the books you want is not
in either of the catalogues : you ask an attendant to help you
in your difficulty, and he takes you into the next room into
the presence of the head of the department. He, judging by
the look of your countenance that you know what you are
asking for, says, " You think that there is such a book ?
We have not got it." You answer hesitatingly that you
have no doubt of it ; it is published at Paris. The librarian
drily replies, " Then 1 will order a copy, sir ;" and you re-
turn to the reading-room, praising in your mind the excel-
lence of the management. To those who' can only read in
solitude, certainly the museum reading-room is not the best
of places ; but those of a more social nature, who at home
study among the prattle of children and the bustle of a fa-
mily, only feel the►r earnestness increased by the number of
students that surround them. The tread of an attendant
quietly and silently carrying a load of folios only strengthens
his attentions, rather than calls it from his book ; the very
air of the place adds fresh zeal to his love of knowledge ; and
the only interruption that he feels is, perhaps, perceiving that
his neighbour is reading Guy Mannering, or that a flirtation
is going forward between a polite, attentive, handsome at-
tendant and one of the numerous lady-authors who employ
their mornings in making extracts in the museum. Admis-
sion to the reading-room ►s easily obtained. The librarians
admit on the recommendation of anybody who is known to
them, either personally or by reputation ; and as they have
the largest circle of acquaintance of any men in London, no-
body who tries can ever find a difficulty in getting an intro-
duction to one of them.—Enquirer.

RAFFLING SPIRIT AT BARNSLEY.—At almost all the pub-
lic-houses in Barnsley, may be seen printed lists for the re-
ception of subscribers' names to raffles they run—" Raffle
for a Gold Watch ;"—Raffle for a capital Eight Days' Clock ;"
—" Raffle for a rich and complete Tea Service ; '—" Raffle
for a handsome Colt ;"—" Raffle for a valuable Mare ;"
" Raffle for a Pig and Poney ;"—eight or ten pig raffles ; and,
not least though last,—" Raffle for a prime fat Bullock !"
REMARKABLE HALO FORMED BY CRYSTALS OF ICE
FLOATING IN THE AlR.—This rare meteorological phenome-
non, which is very seldom seen round the sun, was observed
and its dimensions measured by Sir David Brewster, at St.
Andrews, on the 28th of December, between one and three
'clock. It had the form of a white circle, part of which
as beneath the horizon, surrounding the sun at a distance
"9.1 degrees from its disc. This species of halo has a
tinge of reddish brown along its interior margin, and is pro-
duced by light that has suffered two refractions in passing
through three or six-sided prisms of ice. Several curious
phenomena, connected with the polarizations of the sky, as
modified by the circle of doubly refracted light, were ob-
served on this occasion, and indicate a very unequivocal
manner, the cause of the phenomenon.—Fife Sentinel.
THE MENDICITY MARKET.—Twins are looking up, but
orphans are still below par. Blind men make but little pro-
gress—but their dogs, when properly trained, fetch a great
deal, and that, too, at a single bidding. Crossing sweepers
are firm, and still stick to their posts, though the Lascars
have lately swept everything before them. The frozen-out
gardeners are complaining bitterly of the mildness of the
weather. Congreve matches, since the rain, will not go off
at all. Ballads are largely quoted—but do not sell for more
than a mere song. Begging-letters do not answer, though
the chalk-writing on the pavement, especially the running-
hand, goes off as rapidly as ever. Wooden legs are sent
away begging ; whilst sailors, who have lost their arms, go
crying about the streets, but find that London is not exactly
the place for alms-giving. Fiddlers continue to scrape as
much as formerly ; but organs are turned to no profit, and
the Scotch band, we are sorry to say, no longer pipes to the
same tune that it used to do.—Punch.

WEARING THE BREECHES.—IIis grand distinguishing
characteristic, decision united with resistless determination
to gain his end, appeared early. I well recollect of him,
when he was a child in petticoats, after he had got his first

'e he was allowed to wear it daily, g

ay when she was sewing in the
icitchen, and saying to Ili, , - he took his stand by her side,
" Mother, I should get on my other clothes now." " You
will get them on," she replied, in a tone of authority, raising
hpr vnire ns she snnke_ without looking at him, " you will

up to his mother one c

get them on when these ones are done.' The moment she
said so, he left her side without speaking a word, and walked

straight into the room. In a few minutes he came back
slowly through the kitchen, and went out at the door, with
his petticoat torn into a long narrow strip, winding out after
like a serpent. Thus his end was gained; the petticoat
was done, and the " other clothes" had to be " got on."
Throughout life, it may be added, the same decision of cha-
racter distinguished him. Whenever he was pushed or in
difficulty, he took high ground, and had recourse to decisive

1, the child was the perfect miniature c

most ev

in the

dicated more or less distinctly in the child.—

of Robert Pollock

following

INIEN OF HIGHLAND ACCOUNT KEEPING.—The
is a copy, verbatim et literatim, of an account
een two worthies, living not a hundred miles from

!mit betwixt Hugh Roy, an alexr. makachen
en receeved from hugh ruy, too pond staislin,

J pond stairlin, an againe a pond 3 shullins stair-
. a inutchkin o wht. An alexr. makachen paid
ugh roy S pond stairlin, an too bola ' • ' •
oo ponds pre bol ; and again:: 17 shullins, an againe suxteen
shullins, an againe a leg o pork, an againe a. pair o yung
pigs, and againe 1 pun stairlin and a botle o ail."—Ross-
shire Advertiser.

in, an a mutchkin o whusßy

)F THE COUNTRY CONSIDERED

SIR,—We certainly live in extraordinary times, with much
that is new and ominous in the state of the country. Relaxa-

s, and reduction of existing

from various quarters, distress
Trnment found it necessary to

s, particularly for the ne-
ed ; with them increased con-