antiquities; grants of money secured the Townley marbles, the
Phigalian sculptures, and at last the Elgin marbles; and of late, the
accessions to the vast collection, including Layard's treasures, the
Xanthian marbles, fossils, birds, curiosities, from the frozen seas,
China, the solitudes of Central Africa, and other remote places, where
scientific men have been of late prosecuting their studies have been
received. In 1823 it was allowed by Parliament that the collection had
grown too large for the house in which it was crammed; and accordingly
in this year it was resolved to destroy the old residence of the Earl
of Halifax, and build a new structure on its site. Sir Robert Smirke,
the architect of the present structure, has certainly had good cause
to complain of the niggardly supplies voted from time to time for the
building, which has been twenty-eight years in progress. The
regulations for the admission of the public have fairly kept pace with
the progress of those liberal ideas to which the collection is greatly
indebted, and of which it is a monument. It will be interesting for
the visitor of to-day, to contrast the rules by which he is admitted,
with those that fettered his ancestors of the eighteenth century. In
the year 1759, the trustees of this institution published their
"Statutes and Rules relating to the Inspection and Use of the British
Museum." This instructive document may now serve to illustrate the
darkness from which, even now, we are struggling. Those visitors who
now consider it rather an affront to be required to give up their cane
or umbrella at the entrance to our museums and galleries, will be
astonished to learn, that in the early days of the museum, those
persons who wished to inspect the national collection, were required
to make previous application to the porter, in writing, stating their
names, condition, and places of abode, as also the day and hour at
which they desired to be admitted. Their applications were written
down in a register, which was submitted every evening to the librarian