or secretary in attendance. If this official, judging from the
condition and ostensible character of an applicant, deemed him
eligible for admittance, he directed the porter to give him a ticket
on the following day. Thus the candidate for admission was compelled
to make two visits, before he could learn whether it was the gracious
will of a librarian or secretary that he should be allowed the
privilege of inspecting Sir Hans Sloane's curiosities. If successful,
his trouble did not end when he obtained the ticket; for it was
provided by the trustees that no more than ten tickets should be given
out for each hour of admittance. Accordingly, every morning on which
the museum was accessible, the porter received a company of ten
ticket-holders at nine o'clock, ushered them into a waiting-room "till
the hour of seeing the museum had come," to quote the words of the
trustees. This party was divided into two groups of five persons, one
being placed under the direction of the under-librarian, and the other
under that of the assistant in each department. Thus attended, the
companies traversed the galleries; and, on a signal being given by the
tinkling of a bell, they passed from one department of the collection
into another:--an hour being the utmost time allowed for the
inspection of one department. This system calls to mind the dragooning
practised in Westminster Abbey, under the command of the gallant
vergers, to the annoyance of leisurely visitors, and of ardent but not
active archaeologists. Sometimes, when public curiosity was
particularly excited, the number of respectable applicants for
admission to the museum exceeded the limit of the prescribed issue. In
these cases, tickets were given for remote days; and thus, at times,
when the lists were heavy, it must have been impossible for a passing
visitor in London to get within the gateway of Montague House. In
these old regulations the trustees provided also, that when any
person, having obtained tickets, was prevented from making use of them