staircase. Our front-rooms overlooked the garden of the Rev. Fred. Maurice, one of the most accomplished clergymen of the Church of England, whose labours in connection with the Working-men's College will ever be remembered by a class that has, until lately, been sadly neglected. The back-windows overlooked the gardens in Queen-square, so that we had floral beauties and green trees both back and front.

to

There is, perhaps, no part of London more healthy than the neighbourhood of Russell-square. The soil is gravel, and the drainage for the most part good. The nearness my official duties was a great convenience, as it enabled me to dine with my family instead of going to a tavern for that purpose. We missed, however, our walks in the Regent's-park, but, most of all, the ministry of our good pastor.

After hearing some of the Nonconformist ministers in the neighbourhood to which we had removed, we connected ourselves with a Church presided over by one of the most popular preachers of the day. Our new pastor was mainly distinguished by what I may call his hearty manner and devout demeanour in the pulpit, and which deservedly commends him to the sympathies of his large and highly respectable congregation.

The Church with which we were connected at Bloomsbury was what is denominated Baptist; but the constitution of its society was such that all Christians were admitted to its communion, and a large number of the communicants were Pædobaptists. Most of the Baptist Churches in London and the provinces are formed upon this Catholic basis, and the members of such Churches are found to work most harmoniously together. There is no compromise on the part of the Baptist, and his Pædobaptist brother is treated in all respects on an equality with himself, and has, moreover, the benefit, if he pleases, of seeing the ordinance of believers' baptism administered, and, consequently, of having the subject occasionally brought under his notice.

The services at this popular and crowded chapel were so conducted as to afford nourishment to the spiritual life, and the minister there is known to be a man eminently useful to a certain class of people. As a speaker from the platform, as well as a preacher, he is always listened to with attentive interest: and some of his lectures at Exeter Hall, before the Young Men's Christian Association, have produced a great and lasting effect.

This gentleman received me with his usual kindness and urbanity; and during the four years we attended his ministry he was everything that we could desire, both as a pastor and a friend.

For the next year or two of my life I cannot remember that anything occurred that would be interesting to my friends. I had still to work hard, not only at my ordinary duties, but also at other times whenever I could get any writing to do; and my vacations continued to be employed in earning money to meet the urgent necessities of our daily life, instead of being devoted to recreation and rest.

However, I had great reason to be thankful that my health was, for the most part, such as to enable me to devote my leisure hours in obtaining the means for making my home more comfortable, as well as procuring some suitable education for my children—a thing I have never been able to do from my ordinary salary.

In the spring of 1854 I obtained, quite unexpectedly, the office of Receiver of Publications delivered under the Copyright Act at the British Museum. I had some qualifications for this duty, having not only been connected with the bookselling trade from my earliest days, but I had already discharged the same duty for two of the privileged libraries from 1833 to 1842, so that I was fully acquainted with all the practical details of the work.

I had looked wistfully at the appointment ever since the death of my father in 1847; but as the duty of seeing that the Copyright Act was complied with, on the part of the Trustees of the British Museum, at that time rested with

the secretary; the keeper of the printed books, strangely enough, had nothing whatever to do with the Act, but to receive the publications when they were transferred to the library from the secretary's office.

The Royal Commission* that was appointed to inquire into the constitution and management of the British Museum rectified many of the anomalies that existed up to that time; and among other things effected by that commission was, that the keeper of the printed books should henceforth have the entire management and control of the provisions of the Copyright Act, relating to the delivery of publications at the National Library.

As soon as a fitting opportunity presented itself, the gentleman at the head of the department I had served in, and without any application on my part, very kindly recommended me for the appointment as receiver.t

The work was most congenial to me, and the position it gave me in the establishment was in advance of that which I had previously occupied. The salary of the receiver of copyright publications, at the time I refer to, was but a few pounds a year more than I had received in

* An epitome of the voluminous evidence given before this Commission by Mr. Panizzi would, if published, be most interesting to those desirous of becoming acquainted with the rise and progress of the National Library. That evidence manifests a thorough knowledge and grasp of the subject; and with the new reading-room with its adjuncts, as a part of its practical development, will be a noble and an enduring monument to the fame of the eminent librarian to whom England and the literary world owe so much.

This is only one of the many acts of unsolicited kindness that I have received from this gentleman. Since these pages were written, and while they are passing through the press, Mr. Panizzi has laid at Her Majesty's feet the high and responsible appointment she was pleased to confer upon him some years since. The Trustees of the British Museum, and the House of Commons, have alike acknowledged the eminent services of Mr. Panizzi, and I trust he may long enjoy, among his much-loved books and many friends, the rest and leisure so well earned, and so much needed, after a long and uninterrupted life of toil and anxiety.

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Death of my Mother.

my former position in the library; but the hours of attendance were lessened, and my vacation was increased.

I gave myself to the discharge of my new duties most unreservedly—so much so as to injure my already impaired health; but I was fond of the work, and I was also desirous of evincing my gratitude to the head of my department for having so kindly selected me for the office.

In the following year, 1855, my mother died very suddenly, after an illness of a single day. I was summoned to her bed-side immediately on hearing of her sickness ; but it was believed that the medicines administered were of that powerful nature that she was perfectly stupified by them, and could not articulate a word, and was unconscious of anything that was passing around until she sunk gradually away.

There was no occasion for my mother to have made any expression of the state of her mind, as her previous life had sufficiently shown that she was a Christian of no mean attainments; and, after all, it is not so much how we die as how we have lived. She had been a woman of prayer from her early life; and her knowledge of the Scriptures, and delight in public worship were known to all her family circle. Towards the close of the day on which she died I whispered into her ear some passages of Scripture; she heard them, and tried to lift the heavy eyelids, but could not. There was a beautiful tranquil smile upon her countenance, and once I felt a slight pressure of her hand as I held it within mine. She slept away so softly, without a sigh or groan, that we could scarcely tell when she ceased to breathe. Her end was literally peace, and she fell asleep in Christ. As we knelt around her bed to pray, the feeling of every one present was, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like hers."

I had now lost both parents, and when that is the case there seems to be only a step between ourselves and death. How true are the words

A Worthy Baronet.

""Tis strange that those we lean on most,

Those in whose laps our limbs are nursed,
Fall into shadow, soonest lost:

Those we love first are taken first.

God gives us love. Something to love
He lends us; but, when love is grown
To ripeness, that on which it throve
Falls off, and love is left alone."

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On the death of my mother we removed from Queensquare to what was then known as the New-road, near Albany-street. At this time the building long known as the "Diorama was undergoing a transformation, and was just about being opened as a place of worship. It was one of the many commodious and elegant chapels erected in London and its suburbs by a worthy baronet, who is an enlightened and influential member of the legislature, and a man of truly noble and catholic spirit. His praise is in all the Churches, and his liberal purse is ever ready to help any movement that will benefit his fellowcountrymen. There are not a few such men among the ranks of Nonconformists; would that their number were increased a hundredfold!

I attended the opening services of this new chapel, and was much interested in all its proceedings. We had been induced to remove to the neighbourhood mainly that we might attend the ministry of the gentleman who had been prevailed upon by the generous baronet, who had erected this noble chapel, to leave a large and influential Church and congregation in one of our chief provincial towns, and enter upon this new and important sphere of labour.

I had heard some occasional sermons and lectures by this young minister on his visits to the metropolis, and believed him to be a man of rare and singular ability. We accordingly provided ourselves with sittings at this new chapel. Many of those who enter the Regent's-park by Park-square East, from Portland-place and the Eustonroad, would not imagine, from the plain exterior of the