The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1873-10-30


The followingi letter was received from
Mayor Medill BY one Of the directors Of the
Chicago Public Library, but vii be gener
ally rad with interest:
LoSDoS, October 1, 1878.
NJ Der SRI arrived here q week ago,
in good health and spirits, barring the de-
pressing effect Of the American financial
news. We have industriously devoted the
past eight days to sightseeing, and we are
Just beginning to get some conception Of
this gigantic, unparalleled city. The
weather has been exceptionally fine, rcsem.
bling an Illinois Indian summeEr sky and
sun; neither too hot nor too cold; between
haze and asfor. with the sun shining mild
Is through the light mist and smoke
Monday andito-dayF Wednesday, ! de-
voted to the Britisha Museum. Monday
morning I spent among the books and man
uscripts in the great hall containing the
library of George III and George ~ and
the great Greenvillo Library, donated to
the Museum, together with tneimmense adj
ditions made thereto during the past forty
years. cannot undertake to name the
rare things l saw, but viii mention few.
I saw the Mazariue Bible, from the press Of
Gutenberg and, Faust, dated Mentz, 1856,
believed TO be the first copy ever printed on
i ul0AuUAC lNpGcs II was beautifully NANNutl4
and illuminated. / saw scores of printed
books bearing date before 1875; an original
COPY of the 'sTales Of Caunterburye, by
Chaucer, 14T6-only one other copy in
existence. / saw copy Of the
first edition of Columbus's letter or
record of his discovery of Ameri-
ca, written eight months thereafter,
printed in Latin, in Rome, 1893. l
saw a copy of Shakspeare's 'Romeo and
I Juliet London, 1597-frst edition. Just
look at the datel Also, of ''King Lear, y
/ 16OS-frst edition-and merry Wives Of
WindsoF-fFSt edition, 1919. Also, copy
! of the first collected edition of Shakspeare's
plays, 1928. all bequeathed by David Gar
rick. l also saw Skakspeare's autograph to
deed for the purchase of a piece of land,
and almighty poor specimen of penmanship
it was. I saw the manuscript contract of
Milton and his publisher Tor paradise
/ Lost, and Millions signature thereto. Some
of the English manuscripts date back to A.
D. 623. There is also to be seen the Bull Of
Pope Leo X, comforting on Henry VII. the
title of defender of the Faith. There
were letters in French written by William
the Conqueror There were autograph let
tiers of all the noted historical characters
as Kings, Queens, Princes, Dukes, Earls,
authors composers, orators, poets, states
men, Generals, Admirals, etc., produced by
Great Britain and Europe for a thousand
years past. Twas perfectly bewildered with
the multitude of them. / saw the original
manuscript of the New Testament-"CO dex
Alexandrian, of A. d. 450, in Greek, on
parchment. 1 believe there are only two
older copies extant-one in the Vatican and
one in st. Petersburg. / saw the Parlia-
mentary records since William the Con-
queror, and the original Magma Charta ex-
torted from King John Git was nearly faded
OUT. But / weary you with the enumera-
ton.
The afternoon / devoted to the galleries
containing specimens of natural history,
and portions of the collection of antiqui-
ties, including the ancient coins ard jew
eled ornamsnts Some of the coins dated
back to the early days of Greece. No jew
elry store in London or Paris can equal in
design or beauty these specimens of jewelry.
Indeed, the modern ones are mere imita-
tions Of those of Greece and Rome.
This afternoon was devoted to the ancient
statuary, which fills dozen great halls,
some of them 200 by so feet. The collec-
ton of "Elgin Marbles from Athens is
immense. l never formed any conception
of sculpture before. 1t is almost a lost art
to the moderns They cannot even copy
the originals, much less conceive originals
to compare with those produced by little
Greece. The collection from Egypt is pro-
digious-whole shiploads Of works Of art in
marble and granite Cet-black granite) and
marble of various colors. The Egyptian
statuary exceeds that of Greece in size, run.
ming into the super-colossal, and all of it is
constructed or cast after peculiar type, as
shown in pictures. The Greek statuary i:
bold, graceful, faithful to life, wonderful.
But nearly all OF the specimens, thousands
In number, are more or less broken or de-
faced-some of them mere fragments.
Vandals and barbarians made sad havoc with
Them
came away both days so tired that limbs,
eyes and brain ached, and l was one big
ache from the top Of my head to the soles
of my feet tell you it is the hardest kind
of work, this thing of Sightseeing, If one
goes at it determined to find out things,
and looks deeper than the surface or guide.
book descriptions. q never look at the lat
ter)
The British Museum Library contains Over
1, 600, 600 volumes, and as many manuscripts
and pamphlets. The main reading-room il
circular, like the Chicago tank, but ter
times as large, being 40 feet in diameter by
the same in height being in fact, vast
dome or bowl It contains 100000 Of The
most-used and called-for volumes, but none
of the rare and curious old books. There
are stalls or seats and desks for, perhaps,
500 readers, and they arc mostly full con
tinually. Here the books and magazine;
are made, and half these readers / saw were
authors No books are loaned out or al
lowed to be taken out of the building The
books are arranged on the shelves very much
as in the Boston and Washington libraries.
The guide complained of the error of hav.
ing the rooms too high, and Of tho enormous
amornt of ladder-work for the servants in
fetching and replacing books. In the new
rooms the shelves are not more than eight
OF nine feet high, but the aisles have iron
gratiugs, SO that you can see up two or three
stories and down as many. In fact, the
aisles are simply gridirons. Two or three
copies Of all copyrighted books must be
given to the Grand Library.
When l looked around at this stupcndous
collection of literature, our poor little nest
egg of library in Chicago shTank into IN
significance; and even when the old post.
Office is filed with volumes it will hold nc
more than one of these halls. But then i
must not be forgotten that the British Mu.
scum Library is the work Of a century, sup
ported by the government, aided by the
aristocracy and scholarship Of the nation
and that it is in continual receipt Of the
finest and Tarest private libraries in Europe,
bcqueathed TO it by the deceased owners.
The Library Board pay the highest price
for everything rare or valuable. The an
nual endowment Of the xholc Museum is
half a million dollars; so it is no wonder
that the collection is so remarkable and I'M
mense. For the ssElgin Marbles" alone,
e35, 600 was paid Char was for about .
quarter of what is now called by thai
nance
BY the way, I happened to remark thai
3Ir. Hoyne presented our library with .
complete set Of the Gentleman's Magazine,
and the librarian said that sets were now
quite rare, and could not be had except Al
a high price. And itnow occurs 70 me that
/ saw IN Blanchard's map and old book