Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/325

 iis.vLOcr.3.1912.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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to the City and Suburbs of London, the renowned ( 'apital of the British Empire, addressed to Sir .lohn Barnard, Knt., Senior Alderman and Senior Representative in Parliament of the said City. London, Printed for Henry Whitridge at the Royal Exchange. 1754."

Tliis title suggests a contribution to the literature on the architectural and social grievances of London that Gay, Ralph, Wallis, and others contributed to, but it contains suggestions for amending nuis- ances and for improvements of considerable interest.

Here, for example, is a reference to a City library which, I believe, has hitherto escaped notice :

" Since we are upon the Mansion-House, permit me to offer one internal ornament, equally honour- able and useful to the whole City, viz. That as there is now found to be more Room in it than the Lord Mayors have need of, a convenient apartment be alloted for a publick Mercantile Library, to be consulted by all the Citizens, as occasion may require. I need not, I cannot inform you, Sir, of the various Branches such a Library should consist of. Yet for the Sake of some, it may not be amiss to give a summary of them.

" I. All the Statutes, and also the principal Histories of Britain, Ireland, and our Colonies, with their Geography and Itinerary Descriptions.

" II. The Histories, Geography, and Topo- graphy, of all other Parts of the Universe ; with Maps, Globes, and Sea-Charts ; as also the principal Voyagers.

' : III. A Collection of whatever has been written, in any language, on Navigation, Com- merce, Manufactures, Plantations, Fisheries, Mines, Metals, Minerals, Gems, Fossils, Drugs, Agriculture, Gardening, Mannual-Arts, &c.

" IV. The Charters, By-Laws, Usages, and Histories of London ; and also of all home and foreign Sea-Ports, and of other trading Corpora- lions at home and abroad.

" V. Reports, Law-Decisions, &c., relating to every branch of Commerce, Navigation, Manu- factures, Insurances, &c.

" VI. All the particular Rules and Usages of the British Revenue, of the Customs, Excise, &c., with whatever else may relate to commercial affairs, in the most extensive sense.

" Were once a Beginning made to such a Library, it would, in all probability, soon swell to a con- siderable Bulk, both by Donation from the Living, and Legacies of the Dead. On this Suppo- sition, the Author of these Pages will Engage to bequeath such a Set of old, scarce, curious, and valuable Tracts and Treatises, on the History, Ace., of Commerce (the Product of many years' Collections) as he humbly conceives are not to be found in many private Hands.

''As such a publick, Repository of mercantile knowledge would be the first of its kind probably in all Europe, it would be therefore the more worthy of the first Commercial City in the Uni- verse.

" And with respect to a suitable Salary for the Librarian, I make very little doubt of finding means for it, were but once so noble a design set on foot."

It should not be difficult to identify the writer of this excellent pamphlet. I have made no research, but suggest that, as the offer was not accepted, we might trace the author in the subsequent sale of his library. Mark Cephas Tutet, the Rev. John Brand, and Dr. Michael Lort all had libraries containing this description of literature.

The Guildhall Library, when it was re- founded in 1824, was topographical and historical. This may be attributed to the influence of its originator, William Upcott, or more probably to the fact that the prin- cipal merchants were members of the London Institution, where it was supposed their requirements were specially provided for.

Xothing resembling the Mercantile Library suggested in the pamphlet was attempted there, and the idea remained dormant until Leone Levi put forward his scheme for a " Mercantile and Maritime College in the City of London." I have the whole of the papers connected with this proposal, and ascertain from the minutes of the committee that it was broaght forward in February, 1853. In addition to its direct educational purposes, there was to be a museum of commercial products. The Com- missioners of the Exhibition of 1851 had already made extensive purchases for a similar national collection, which, I presume, is represented to-day by the Science Sec- tions and Western Galleries of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The public meeting to bring about the establishment of the Mercantile College w r as held at " The London Tavern," Tuesday, 17 May, 1853, and the necessity for a " comprehensive library of reference on commerce, banking, and science ;: within the City of London was part of the plan dis- cussed.

I believe the Milton Club (for which premises were built on Ludgate Hill) was the final development of the project. The minute-book before me ends Monday, 7 July, 1856, but there may have been some later merging or change of title.

Dr. W. Sedgwick Saunders in his appeal for the reconstruction of the City Library (' The Guildhall Library,' 1869) suggested the provision of a Library of Reference of works upon commerce, banking, maps, &c., and in a foot-note added : " Such a room exists in most large towns, and is much frequented by merchants, traders, and others."