DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26753#0011
9
library at Paris, nor that of any Continental city, would have
been able to stand an instant’s comparison with ours; whereas
there are few capitals in Europe which cannot boast of surpas-
sing ours in respect to all its scientific institutions.
In attempting to prove the proposition hinted at in the last
paragraph, I shall be obliged to speak loudly in disapproval
of the present building of the British Museum. Though I do
this, I confess most unwillingly, as nothing exposes an author
so much to being misunderstood, as a presumed habit of fault-
finding, and it is so easy to answer him, by ascribing to him
motives of envy, hatred, and malice, even when he is acting
from the purest and most honest convictions. Indeed, so much
is this felt in modern literature, that in nine cases out of ten,
all criticisms are published anonymously ; a mode of writing to
which I have a singular aversion ; while, as neither in this work
nor in any other, have I ever ventured to blame without con-
vincing myself, in the first place, that I know I can do better,
and, in the next place, giving the public an opportunity of
judging whether I am correct or not in this assumption, I do
not think I lay myself fairly open to the objection. But whether
this be so or not, it is requisite some one should speak out and
take the consequences, which few seem inclined to do, for
though I have seldom spoken to any one on the subject who
was not louder than myself in condemning the British Museum,
whenever I have suggested how advantageous it would be that
the public should be put in possession of the objections urged,
the answer has invariably been in substance, if not in words,
(e I know my own interest better !”
The consequence is, that the ignorant gape, the initiated shrug
their shoulders; no one speaks out, and wrong is done, and
what is worse, persevered in, till it is almost past remedy.
My intention, therefore, is to speak out boldly against what I
conceive to be wrong, but one thing I wish especially to guard
against before proceeding further, which is that I would not on
any account be understood to say one word against Sir Robert
Smirke personally. Sir Robert was not an artist architect; his
friends never claimed that title for him, nor do I know that he
ever aspired to it himself. But he was a first class builder
architect, and in an age when so many failures have taken place,
it is no small praise that through straightforward dealing and
library at Paris, nor that of any Continental city, would have
been able to stand an instant’s comparison with ours; whereas
there are few capitals in Europe which cannot boast of surpas-
sing ours in respect to all its scientific institutions.
In attempting to prove the proposition hinted at in the last
paragraph, I shall be obliged to speak loudly in disapproval
of the present building of the British Museum. Though I do
this, I confess most unwillingly, as nothing exposes an author
so much to being misunderstood, as a presumed habit of fault-
finding, and it is so easy to answer him, by ascribing to him
motives of envy, hatred, and malice, even when he is acting
from the purest and most honest convictions. Indeed, so much
is this felt in modern literature, that in nine cases out of ten,
all criticisms are published anonymously ; a mode of writing to
which I have a singular aversion ; while, as neither in this work
nor in any other, have I ever ventured to blame without con-
vincing myself, in the first place, that I know I can do better,
and, in the next place, giving the public an opportunity of
judging whether I am correct or not in this assumption, I do
not think I lay myself fairly open to the objection. But whether
this be so or not, it is requisite some one should speak out and
take the consequences, which few seem inclined to do, for
though I have seldom spoken to any one on the subject who
was not louder than myself in condemning the British Museum,
whenever I have suggested how advantageous it would be that
the public should be put in possession of the objections urged,
the answer has invariably been in substance, if not in words,
(e I know my own interest better !”
The consequence is, that the ignorant gape, the initiated shrug
their shoulders; no one speaks out, and wrong is done, and
what is worse, persevered in, till it is almost past remedy.
My intention, therefore, is to speak out boldly against what I
conceive to be wrong, but one thing I wish especially to guard
against before proceeding further, which is that I would not on
any account be understood to say one word against Sir Robert
Smirke personally. Sir Robert was not an artist architect; his
friends never claimed that title for him, nor do I know that he
ever aspired to it himself. But he was a first class builder
architect, and in an age when so many failures have taken place,
it is no small praise that through straightforward dealing and