Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 43.djvu/187

 and his successors, has elevated the museum library from the sixth or seventh to the second, if not the first, place among the libraries of the world. One of the most important additions it ever received, the bequest of the Grenville Library in 1846, was entirely due to Panizzi's personal influence [see ].

By 1848 the public dissatisfaction with the administration of the museum in most of its departments—prompted, however, far more by lack of space than by distrust of the staff—had reached a point which was held to justify the appointment of a royal commission of inquiry. The idea seems to have arisen with the men of science, who were justly scandalised at the crowded condition of the natural history collections; but the centre of interest speedily shifted to the printed book department. Panizzi's success in rebutting all the accusations brought against his management was universally acknowledged, and the most important result of the investigation was to virtually transfer the administration of the museum to him from the secretary, whose mind gave way during the sittings of the commission; while the commissioners' proposals for a more radical change of system were allowed to drop. Two years afterwards the insufficiency of space, so far as regarded the library, was effectually remedied for a long time by Panizzi's grand conception of the reading-room and its annexes, by which he will be better remembered than by any other of his achievements. The waste of space through the emptiness of the great quadrangle must have struck every one, but no suggestion for occupying it with an additional library appears to have been made except by Thomas Watts in 1836. Professor William Hosking [q. v.] and Edward Hawkins (1780–1867) [q. v.], keeper of antiquities, brought forward in 1845–50 schemes for a central hall for sculpture, which passed unnoticed. Panizzi's first design was sketched by him on 18 April 1852, and submitted to the trustees on 5 May following. It merely contemplated a flat-roofed building, and it does not precisely appear when the striking architectural feature of the dome was added. After a controversy with Wilson Croker and Sir Charles Barry, who wished the space to be devoted to a central hall for antiquities, Panizzi's plans were approved by the trustees and the government, and it would now be universally admitted that the world contains no edifice more carefully devised, down to the minutest details, or better adapted to subserve the double purpose of storage for immense contents and accommodation for a numerous public. The foundations were laid in May 1854, and the building was inaugurated by a reception given by Panizzi on 2 May 1857. A year previously he had become principal librarian, having succeeded Sir Henry Ellis on 6 March 1856. The minor improvements introduced by him during his nineteen years' tenure of office as keeper of printed books are far too numerous to be noticed here; but one, the stricter enforcement of the Copyright Act, must be mentioned, on account of the obloquy to which it for a time subjected him.

As principal librarian Panizzi displayed the same energy and administrative capacity that he had exhibited in a subordinate station, but no very important question agitated his term of office, except one in which he unfortunately took the wrong side. He was a strong advocate for the removal of the natural history collections, chiefly, it was thought, from impatience and dislike of the men of science, whom he could never endure. ‘He would,’ said Macaulay, ‘give three mammoths for one Aldus.’ It is indeed improbable that any influence would have prevailed upon any government to sanction the large expenditure which the proper accommodation of all the multifarious collections of the museum at Bloomsbury would have entailed; and if proper accommodation for all was not to be provided, it was better that a part should be removed. It is also true that some vehement opponents of the dislocation of the museum, in their zeal for the interests of art and archæology, worked against their own object by their grudging recognition of the claims of science. It is nevertheless to be regretted that Panizzi should have supported the removal otherwise than as a necessary evil. Wiser administrative measures were the trisection of the unwieldy department of antiquities, a fourth subdivision being added subsequently, and the appointment of a superintendent of all the natural history collections in the person of Professor Richard Owen [q. v.] The most remarkable acquisitions during Panizzi's administration were archæological, including the Temple vases and bronzes, the Farnese sculptures, the fruits of excavations at Halicarnassus, Camirus, and Carthage, and the Christy collection of prehistoric antiquities. The great Castellani purchase came immediately after his resignation, but his influence was believed to have contributed to it. Another important transaction in which he was deeply concerned was the admission of the staff of the museum, whose friend he had always been, to the benefits of the Civil Service Superannuation Act, a