Page:The three clerks - a novel (IA threeclerksnovel01trolrich).pdf/11



the English world knows, or knows of, that branch of the Civil Service which is popularly called the Weights and Measures. Every inhabitant of London, and every casual visitor there, has admired the handsome edifice which generally goes by that name, and which stands so conspicuously confronting the Treasury Chambers. It must be owned that we have but a slip-slop way of christening our public buildings. When a man tells us that he called on a friend at the Horse-Guards, or looked in at the Navy Pay, or dropped a ticket at the Woods and Eorests, we put up with the accustomed sounds, though they are in themselves, perhaps, indefensible. The "Board of Commissioners for Regulating Weights and Measures," and the "Office VOL. I