Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1873-11-05
THE BRITISH MUSEUM.


The following is an extract from a
letter of Hon. Joseph Medilps, pub
lished in the Chicago Tribune
Monday and to-day Wednesday, !
devoted to the British Museum. Mon.
day a. m. [ spent among the -
.4 - BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS
in the great hall containing the libra
ries of George ILL., and George ". and
the great Granville Library, donated
to the Museum, tog Their with the i'm.
mense additions made thereto during
the past forty years. I cannot under
take to name the rare things I saw, but
will mention g few. [ saw the Maza-
rine Bible, from the press of Gluten
berg and Faust, dated Mentz, 1855,
believed to be the first copy ever print
ed on movable types. It was beauti.
fully executed and illuminated. saw
scores Of printed books bearing date
before 1875 an original copy OF the
"Tales of Caunterburye," by Chaucer,
1476-only one other copy in existence.
I saw copy of the first
edition of Columbus letter or record of
his discovery of America, written eight
months thereafter, printed in Latin, in
Rome, 1893. I saw copy of Shaks-
peare's "Romeo and Juliet" London,
1897, first edition. Just look at the
date! Also, OF "King Lear" 16O3,-
first edition, and "Merry Wives of
Windsor, first edition, 1919. Also,
a copy of the first collected edition of
Shakspeare's plays, 1923; all be-
queathed by David Garrick. I also
saw Shakspeare's autograph to deed
for the purchase Of a piece of land, and
a mighty poor specimen of penmanship
it was. I saw the manuscript contract
of Milton and his publisher for ssPar-
adise Lost" and Millions signature
thereto. Some Of the English manu-
scripts date back to A. d. 623.
There is also to be seen
the Bull of Pope Leo x, comforting
on Henry VIII the title of Defender
of the Faith" There were letters in
French written by William the Con-
querer. There were autograph letters
of all the noted historical characters,
as Kings, Queens, Princes, Dukes,
Earls, authors, composers, orators,
poets, statesmen, Generals, Admirals,
ETC., produced by Great Britain and
Europe for thousand years past. I
was perfectly bewildered with the null
titude of them. [ saw the original
of the New Testament
/" Codex Alexandrian, of A. d. $50, in
Greek, on parchment I believe there
are only two older copies extant, -one
in the Vatican and one in st. Peters
burg. I saw the ParIiam entary records
since William the Conquerer, and the
Magma Charta extorted from
King John Git was nearly faded out).
But weary you with the enumeration.
The afternoon I devoted to the gall
leries containing specimens of natural
and portion of the collection
of
ANTIQUITIES,
the ancient coins and ieweied
ornaments. Some of the coins dated
back to the early days of Greece. No
jewelry store IN London or Paris can
equal in design or beauty of these spa.
cimens of jewelry. Indeed, the modern
ones are mere limitations of those of
Greece and Rome.
This afternoon was devoted to
ANCIENT sTATUARY,
which fills a dozen great halls, some of
them 200 by 80 feet. The collection of
"Elgln Marbles y from Athens is i'm
mense. never formed any concep-
ton of sculpture before. Tt is almost
a lost art to the moderns. They can
not 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
Get black grantee and marble Of vari-
Gus colors. The Egyptian statuary ex-
ceeds that of Greece in size, running
into the per-collossal, and all of it is
constructed Or cast after peculiar
type, as shown in pictures. The Greek
statuary is bold, graceful, faithful to
life, wonderful. But nearly all of the
specimens, thousands IN number, are
more or less broken or defaced-some
of them mere fragments. Vandals and
barbarians made sad havoc with them.
I came away both days so tired that
linz bs, eyes, and brain ached, and Twas
one big ache from the top of my head
to the soles of my feet. I tell you it is
the hardest kind Of work, this thing of
sight seeing, if one goes at it deter
mined to find out things, and look
deeper than the surface of guide-book
Ct never look at the lat
ter.)
THE BRITISH MUSEUM LIBRARY
contains over 1000, 900 volumes, and as
many manuscripts and pamphlets. The
main reading-room is circular, like the
Chicago Tai. k, but ten times as large,
being 40 feet in diameter by the same
IN height, being, ia fact, vast dome
or bowl. It contains 100,O of the
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
are mostly full continually. Here
the books and magazines are
made, and half these readers /
saw were authors. No books are loaned
out, or allowed to be taken out of the
building, The books are arranged on
the shelves very much as the Boston
and Washington Libraries. The guide
complained of the error of having the
rooms too high, and of the enormous
amount of ladder-work for the servants
in fetching aud replacing books. In the