y, a sermon, a newspaper, or a song, may afford an
illustration of manners or opinions elucidatory of the past, and throw a
faithful though feeble light on the pathway of the future historian. In
such libraries nothing should be rejected. Not but that libraries of
deposit and of general reading may (as in the case of the British
Museum) be combined. But though such combination is possible, and may be
desirable, the distinction which we have drawn should never be
forgotten."

The first, and apparently, in the estimation of the committee, the most
important witness, was Edward Edwards, Esq., an assistant in the
department of printed books in the British Museum. The minutes of his
evidence alone cover between sixty and seventy of the closely-printed
folio pages accompanying the report; and besides this, he has furnished
various statistical tables, occupying fifty pages, and a series of
twelve maps. In one of these maps it is his purpose to exhibit, by
various shades, the relative provision of books in public libraries in
the principal states of Europe, as compared with their respective
populations; and in the others, the local situation of the public
libraries in some of the principal cities is indicated. The evidence of
Mr. Edwards has been severely commented upon in the London papers and
elsewhere, and some inaccuracies in his tables, of greater or less
magnitude, have been pointed out. We might, perhaps, by a particular
examination of every word and figure, add something to the list of
errata. But we think that those persons who are most familiar with the
difficulty of obtaining exact statistical details, will not wonder that
an error should here and there be found. We have looked over the
evidence and the tables with considerable care, and think them, on the
whole, highly creditable to the author. It is evident, however, from the
general tenor of his testimony, that Mr. Edwards presses rather too
strongly the point respecting the condition of England, compared with
that of the countries on the continent, as to the number and
accessibility of their public libraries. His enthusiasm on the subject,
arising probably from a laudable desire to have his own country take a
higher rank in respect to libraries than she now holds, has led him, we
think, to overlook or undervalue some of the advantages which she
already possesses. But his facts and figures are in the main to be
relied upon; and we shall make use of them as suffici