tions of Literary Societies,' a laborious and useful work. The librarians are Benecke and Grimm, the first of whom is well known to the literary world by his editions and illustrations of several of the early German poets of the thirteenth century, and will be particularly remembered with gratitude and respect by all Englishmen who have studied at Göttingen. The name of Jacob Grimm is well known to philologists. His brother, Wilhelm Grimm, some of whose works have been translated into English, is one of the sub-librarians. These gentlemen, though generally professors or teachers in the University, are not required to deliver lectures, or to take any part in public instruction, the management of the affairs of the library being considered as a sufficient occupation of their time. Their presence at the library is required daily during the year, from nine o'clock in the morning till twelve. If to this is added the daily attendance during the public hours, namely, on Wednesdays and Saturdays from two till four, and on other days from one till two o'clock, it is manifest that these offices are by no means sinecures.

The annual income appropriated to the purchase of books is not altogether fixed, but it seldom exceeds 8007. sterling; this sum also covers the expenses of book-binding. The salaries of the officers and the repairs of the building amount in general to upwards of 800l. per annum more; we believe that we are correct in stating, that upon an average of years, the whole expenses of the library, inclusive of the enlargement and alterations of the building, which become necessary as the number of books increases, do not amount to 20001. per annum. With such small means it is really surprising to find how much has already been effected by the judgment and assiduity of those who have conducted the library, and the laudable resolution with which they have kept in view the single object of usefulness in the application of their funds. The number of books which the library has derived from presents is by no means considerable; we have heard, indeed, of a handsome donation made by the late King in the year 1816, and also of presents from His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, the Dukes of Bedford and Buckingham, the Duchess of Devonshire, and several literary societies of England; but we have also heard a wish expressed, (which we would gladly enforce wherever our recommendation can be available,) that this liberality should be extended to works of a particular description published in this country, which are often not to be procured by any other means; we allude particu

larly to works on India, and Sanscrit books, which would perhaps be nowhere more used and more highly appreciated than by the constellation of oriental scholars, who at present distinguish the University of Göttingen. We give it as our honest opinion, that an author, who has published a really useful book, cannot better provide for the due appreciation of his services, or the general diffusion of his discoveries, than by presenting a copy of his work to the library at Göttingen.

By giving this account of the library at Göttingen, it is not intended to represent the system there adopted as altogether perfect, or as one which could be always applied with similar advantage to libraries in this country. Admirable as we think their plan of catalogues in many respects, we admit that it is capable of some improvements; we are aware too that in a small town like Göttingen, with a peculiar population depending upon the University, and subject to the University laws, any loss or damage from a free circulation of the books might be prevented by measures of precaution, which would be quite insufficient for that purpose in a large and mixed population; we admit, therefore, that a degree of liberality in the opportunities given for the use of the books may be safe and justifiable at Göttingen, which in London would be dangerous and ruinous. Still there is a great deal in the system we have described, which might be introduced into most of the public libraries of England with advantage. In the first place, we might profit much by adopting in our public libraries, and especially such as are attached to Universities, some principle or system in the purchase of books, by which the collections might become more complete in all departments. An intelligent German, who visited England in 1802 and 1803, says, It is scarcely credible that in the three United Kingdoms, there is not one public library at all complete in the most important branches of literature. From the thirty costly collections belonging to the different colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, it would be impossible to form a single library so perfect as those at Göttingen and Dresden, or several others in Germany which might be mentioned; for they consist almost exclusively of ancient classics and theology, and the notion of filling up the deficiencies of one by the abundance of the other seems never to have been entertained. Consequently in most of these college libraries you find exactly the same poverty, and the same wealth*. Can there be a doubt that in all libraries intended for general

* Goede's England, vol. iii. p. 15.

use, uniform completeness is most important? It is not required that the libraries of the College of Surgeons, or of the Antiquarian Society should be completely provided with books on other subjects than those which are the peculiar objects of the institutions to which they are respectively attached; but the libraries of the British Museum, of the Royal Society, and of all universities and colleges, should be as generally furnished with books in all branches of art, science, and literature, as the ends and objects of their foundation are general. Of what use is a perfect library of controversial divinity to the student of history? or of classical learning to the mathematician? or of natural history to the oriental scholar? The pursuits and tastes of writers and readers are as various as their names; and therefore, a public library should surely be so provided as to supply, as far as possible, the wants of all.

Again, in facilitating the use of the books, much more might be done in our public libraries than has yet been effected. In almost all of them, the catalogues are imperfect and inconvenient; and the impediments which obstruct the access to the books are often vexatious. How far it would be practicable in London to adopt the practice of lending books out of the libraries may admit of some doubt; with certain restrictions and precautions, however, we are inclined to think that it might be done in some libraries even in London; and the magnitude of the advantage to be gained would fully justify a cautious experiment. In Universities, it should and might always be done*. We believe that the only two public libraries in this country which at present afford this great advantage to readers, are Dr. Williams's library in Redcross Street, London, and the Advocates' Library in Edinburgh; and we are not aware of any inconvenience or injury sustained in consequence of this liberality.

In the present state of intelligence and inquiry in this country, the improvement of our public libraries would be one of the most effective modes of diffusing knowledge. Notwithstanding the size and value of many of our collections, we are far behind both France and Germany in the machinery and management of institutions of this kind, and in consequence of imperfections in this respect, some of our best libraries are unfrequented and useless. Books,' as Milton sayst, are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a *The University Libraries at Oxford and Cambridge lend out their books to members of their own body, who are of a certain standing in the University. † Areopagitica.

potencie of life in them to be as active as that soul was, whose progeny they are; nay, they do preserve, as in a viol, the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them. As good almost kill a man, as kill a good book: who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God's image; but he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were, in the eye. Many a man lives a burden to the earth; but a good book is the precious lifeblood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life. We should be wary, therefore, what persecution we raise against the living labours of public men, how we spill that seasoned life of man, preserved and stored up in books; since we see a kind of homicide may be thus committed, sometimes a martyrdom.' Milton is here denouncing the crime of suppressing books before their publication; but surely the strangling them at their birth is hardly more mischievous and fatal than smothering them when full-grown, or than condemning them to perpetual captivity by chaining them in dust and darkness on a shelf, and thus preventing their vital energies from being called into action. It is a melancholy reflection that thousands and tens of thousands of books are literally buried alive in some of our libraries, their potencie of life' extinguished by exclusive rules and regulations, intended perhaps by our ancestors for their preservation, but in the present state of education destructive of their usefulness. It is high time that this reproach should be removed; and we feel pleasure in stating that increased liberality has already appeared at the British Museum and some other institutions in London: there is, however, much remaining to be done in all of them; and in the college libraries of Oxford and Cambridge, where improvement has, except in a few cases, not yet commenced. We propose at a future time to lay before our readers a plain statement of the condition of several of our public libraries in England, selecting such as, from their situation or other circumstances, might, under good management, become the most extensively useful.

EDUCATION IN THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS

OF SCOTLAND.

THE elementary instruction obtained at the parish-schools throughout Scotland has long been acknowledged as the source of important benefit to that country. Established more than a century ago, among a people by nature at once enterprising and sedate, those schools have conspired with the greater opportunities of academical instruction in the same part of the island, to furnish a number of active and intelligent members of the community, who by their services in remote lands have more tended to enrich their parent-country than the natives of any other single portion of the British empire. At the same time, Scotland has presented the spectacle, most gratifying to the friends of education, of a well-taught people, whose learning, it has never yet been asserted, makes them ashamed of such honest labours as belong to the different classes in which they happen to be placed. Such have been the results even of an imperfect, but still of an extended system. But the Reports of the Committee of the General Assembly for increasing the means of Education and Religious Instruction in Scotland, particularly in the Highlands and Islands,' shew, that the system has latterly undergone a very complete revision, and been improved by many salutary and admirable amendments.

6

It will be recollected that, in 1818, a Commission was appointed by Parliament to inquire into the existing state of education throughout the United Kingdom. The chairman of this commission (the present Lord Chancellor) requested the assistance of the General Assembly of Scotland, in the hope of obtaining, by means of queries transmitted to parochial ministers, the information which the Commissioners required with respect to that part of the kingdom. The assistance of the Assembly was very readily given, and a large collection of parochial returns was soon afterwards transmitted by Dr. Baird, the venerable Principal of the University of Edinburgh, to Mr. Brougham, by whom a digest was submitted to Parliament, which was afterwards printed and published. The returns were sent back to Dr. Baird, and subsequently served the important purpose of promoting further inquiry and consequent improvement in the plan of national education in Scotland.

Furnished with the ample and authentic details comprised in these returns, from nearly eight hundred of the parochial ministers of Scotland, Dr. Baird was enabled to state, in a very convincing and effective manner, the necessity for ap