Enterprise in latitude 64°. If a ship could pierce through the ice which clings to the coast of Siberia, we firmly believe it could cross the pole, and, favored by the powerful current which pours down from the polar region north of Spitzbergen, could return in triumph to the Atlantic.

ART. IX.-1. Report from the select Committee on Public Libraries; together with the Proceedings of the Committee, Minutes of Evidence, and Appendix. Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 23 July, 1849. London. Folio. pp. xx. and 317.

2. Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Constitution and Government of the British Museum ; with Minutes of Evidence. Presented to both Houses of Parliament, by Command of Her Majesty. London: Printed by William Clowes and Sons. 1850. Folio. pp. xliv. and 823.

3. Annual Report of the Trustees of the Astor Library of the City of New York. Made to the Legislature, January 29, 1850. Albany: Weed, Parsons, and Co., Public Printers. 1850. [Assembly Document, No. 43, pp. 30.] 4. Reports, etc., of the Smithsonian Institution, exhibiting its Plans, Operations, and Financial Condition up to January 1, 1849. From the third annual Report of the Board of Regents. Presented to Congress, February 19th, 1849. Washington: Thomas Ritchie, Printer. 1849. 8vo. pp. 72.

ALLUDING to our attainments in literature and science in comparison with those of other nations of our age, Mr. Justice Story, in an address before the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Cambridge, a few years since, made the following remarks:"We have no reason to blush for what we have been or what we are. But we shall have much to blush for, if, when the highest attainments of the human intellect are within our reach, we surrender ourselves to an obstinate indifference or

shallow mediocrity; if, in our literary career, we are content to rank behind the meanest principality of Europe. Let us not waste our time in seeking for apologies for our ignorance where it exists, or in framing excuses to conceal it. Let our short reply to all such suggestions be, like the answer of a noble youth on another occasion, that we know the fact, and are every day getting the better of it."

The orator then ventures to mention one of our greatest national deficiences, and says, "There is not, perhaps, a single library in America, sufficiently copious to have enabled Gibbon to have verified the authorities for his immortal History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." *

Notwithstanding his prefatory remarks, and the qualifying terms in which he stated this fact, it was received with surprise, and some doubt, by a large portion of his audience. Nearly all his hearers thought it a bold statement to be made so near to the vast bibliographical treasures of Harvard College. It was even hinted that the orator had probably been seeking in vain for some ancient black-letter law book from the press of Richard Pynson, and had drawn his general conclusions from his particular disappointment. But had the distinguished jurist been as learned in bibliothecal as in legal lore, had he and his audience been as thoroughly familiar with the actual condition and wants of our public libraries, as they were, in general, impressed with the importance of strenuous efforts on the part of men of literature and science, to raise our relative rank with other nations in these respects, he could have presented a much stronger case without danger of exciting surprise or doubt. It would not have been necessary to have cited so distinguished an author as Gibbon, nor so elaborate and learned a work as his matchless history. Our own neighborhood would furnish many instances, where research has been abandoned in despair on account of the meagreness of materials for pursuing the necessary investigations. We do not hesitate to say, that not one, nor all the libraries in this country combined, would furnish sufficient materials

*Fisher Ames had, many years before, made a similar statement; and we have it from a high source, that John Quincy Adams attempted to supply the deficiency, by importing at his own expense every work to which Gibbon refers in his History. In the collection of books left by Mr. Adams, and now at the family mansion in Quincy, there are probably more of these authorities than in any other library in the country.

for writing a complete history of that little book of three or four score diminutive pages, which has had such a mighty influence in moulding the character and creed of former generations, "The New England Primer."*

With respect to Gibbon, it might have been said with equal truth, that probably not all the libraries in Great Britain, and perhaps no single library in the world, was sufficiently copious to have supplied him with the authorities for his work. According to his own published statement, he was obliged to collect and purchase for his own use the extensive and valuable works which form the basis of his history. So, in our own country, such writers as Irving, Sparks, Prescott, and Bancroft have been obliged to visit Europe to collect materials for their histories, or at a great expense to import the works which ought to have been freely furnished to them from our public libraries. It was only by visiting Spain, and collecting, at his own cost, one of the best libraries of Spanish literature anywhere to be found, that Mr. Ticknor was enabled to avail himself of the materials necessary for writing his invaluable work. If either of the above-named distinguished authors had been less favored in their means, the world would not have enjoyed the results of their studies. Is it strange, then, that our country has not produced a larger number of eminent and thorough scholars? The pursuits of literature are, at present, too expensive for any but fortune's favorites to engage in them with success.

*This assertion must not be regarded by the reader as a random or reckless one, intended more for effect than for expressing an ascertained fact; for such is not the case. Not many months since, a series of articles on the History of the New England Primer appeared in the "Cambridge Chronicle." The writer gave some account of the authors of the various pieces in that little book, and of the persons named therein. In speaking of John Rogers, the story of whose martyrdom (with an affecting picture to match) occupies so prominent a place in the Primer, it was stated that he had exhibited, in the case of Joan Bocher, an equally persecuting spirit with that of his papistical executioners. The origin of this accusation was traced back to Fox, who was a contemporary of Rogers. The account in "The Cambridge Chronicle" was given from "Crosby's History of the Baptists." The writer of that work copies from Peirce, who, in his History of the Dissenters, says that he had it from the first Latin edition of "Fox's Book of Martyrs," and that it was suppressed in the following editions, out of regard to the memory of Rogers. Some of the numerous persons in this country bearing the name of Rogers, and claiming to be lineal descendants of him of Primer memory, were unwilling to receive at second-hand a statement which, if true, leaves a deep stain on the character of their ancestor. Diligent inquiry was made for the original work; but no copy of the first edition of Fox's Book of Martyrs could be found in any library in the country. Several cases of a similar kind occurred when investigating the history of the Primer; and other important matters connected with that little book and its authors were left in doubt, on account of the impossibility of obtaining the requisite works to verify or correct them.

It would be difficult to name a subject of equal importance that has heretofore received so little attention, or a want equally pressing, which has been so inadequately supplied, as that of large and well selected public libraries. We would not be understood as intimating that there has been a designed neglect or unwillingness to furnish the means for the highest intellectual culture, and for the most thorough literary and scientific investigations. On the contrary, we have the fullest faith that it is only necessary to have the deficiencies in these respects made known, in order that they may be soon supplied. Indeed, the paramount importance of large, well furnished libraries, easily accessible to students and others, has never been denied. The reason why we have to lament their present great deficiencies is the mistaken notion as to what may properly be said to constitute a satisfactory collection.

We suppose that the opinion pretty extensively prevails, that as far as this country and Europe are concerned, the present condition of these institutions may be regarded with unalloyed satisfaction. We often hear the libraries of Harvard, Yale, and Brown universities, with those in the cities of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, alluded to in terms which show very evidently, that, in the estimation of the public, there is no cause for complaint on account of their present condition. According to the common belief, these large collections contain nearly every work worth preserving in the various departments of literature and science. If a scholar desires thoroughly to investigate any subject, he has only to resort thither to find all that has ever been published by his predecessors in the same departments, and all that is necessary to aid him in his pursuits. Certainly, these large collections from 30,000 to 60,000 volumes - must contain all that any scholar can ever need. But if, perchance, a case should arise in which a rare work is needed for reference, and is not to be found in the country, a visit to the British Museum, where there are nearly half a million of volumes, or to the national library at Paris, with twice that number, will supply all deficiencies.

A single fact, selected from a multitude of a similar character which have come to our knowledge, will be sufficient to show the error of such a conclusion. Within a few months, an English writer has published the following statement in the London Athenæum:-"In the progress of a late histori

cal inquiry, I covered a sheet of paper with notes and questions, that could be solved only by reference to contemporary tracts and pamphlets. On visiting the Museum, it was found that not five per cent. of what I wanted were contained in that great national collection." Now, it must be acknowledged, that the Library of the British Museum contains one of the most complete collections of historical works to be found in any country; and it is known to be particularly rich in books and pamphlets relative to the history of Great Britain. Yet the writer whom we have quoted finds cause to regret its great incompleteness in that department. We presume a similar, perhaps a greater, deficiency would be found in nearly every other department. Nor is this the fault of those to whom the duty of purchasing the books is intrusted. Considering the multiplicity and variety of objects that claim their attention, and the inadequate means afforded to them, it is wonderful that so much has been accomplished in supplying the wants of different classes of readers and scholars.

The popular error that only the best books and on the most important subjects are worth preserving, has done much to retard the establishment and growth of large libraries in this country. When a person, unaccustomed to the use or sight of many books, enters for the first time a large library, he is very likely to utter an exclamation of astonishment at the vastness the unnecessary extent of the collection, and to make the wondering inquiry whether anybody is expected to read all the volumes; as if all books that are worth preserving are therefore to be read through! It has been well said, that a National Library should contain all those works which are too costly, too voluminous, or of too little value in the common estimation, to be found elsewhere, down even to the smallest tracts. An old almanac or a forgotten pamphlet has sometimes enabled the historian to verify or correct some important point which would otherwise have remained in dispute.

The publication of the various documents whose titles are given above affords the best evidence, that at length the subject is likely to be treated in a manner more nearly commensurate with its importance. We therefore notice their appearance with great pleasure. Our purpose in presenting the subject to our readers at this time is not so much to offer remarks and suggestions of our own, as to lay before them some facts con