This catalogue will be found virtually to include all the articles of wealth which men can either possess or lend, (for the fourth, fully understood, means the entire treasure of domestic and social affection;) and the law of their tenure is that a man shall neither sell nor lend that which is indeed his own; neither his God, his conscience, his soul, his body, or his wife’s; his country, his house, nor his tools. But that things which are not ‘his own,’ but over which he has charge or authority, (as of more land than he can plough, or more books than he can read,) these he is bound to lend or give, as he sees they may be made serviceable to others; and not for farther gain to himself. Thus his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury is, under penalties, bound to make his very excellent library at Lambeth serviceable to other scholars; but it is not at all permitted to his Grace, by the laws of God, to use any part of the income derived from his pretty estate on the slope of the Addington Hills, for the purchase of books, by the loan of which, in the manner of Mr. Mudie, to the ignorant inhabitants of the village of Croydon, his Grace may at once add to his income (not more than) five per cent. on the capital thus laid out in literature; and to his dignity as a Christian pastor. I know, as it happens, more about the heather than the rents of his Grace’s [[323]]estate at Addington; my father and I having taken much pleasure in its bloom, and the gleaming of bluebells amongst it—when he, in broken health, sought any English ground that Scottish flowers grew on, and I was but a child;—so that I thought it would please him to be laid in his last rest at the feet of those brown hills. And thus, as I say, I know somewhat of their flowers, but never inquired into their rents; and perhaps, as I rather hope, the sweet wood and garden ground serve only for his Grace’s entertainment—not emolument: but even if only so, in these hard times his Grace must permit me to observe that he has quite as much earthly ground and lodging as any angel of the Lord can be supposed to require; and is under no necessity of adding to his possessions by the practice of usury. I do not know if the Archbishop has in his library the works of Mr. Thackeray; but he probably has sometimes relieved his studies of the Christian Fathers with modern literature, and may remember a figure of an amiable and economical little school-boy who begins life by lending three halfpence, early in the week, to the boys who had outrun their income, for four halfpence at the week’s end. The figure of the same little boy grown into an Archbishop, and making a few pence extra on his episcopal income by the loan of his old school books, did not, it appears, suggest itself to the lamented author; but here it is, in relief, for us:— [[324]]
East Surrey Hall, Museum and Library Company
(LIMITED).
Registered under the Companies Acts, 1862 and 1867.
President.
His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Vice-Presidents.
- Granville Leveson Gower, Esq., High Sheriff of Surrey.
- S. Birch, Esq., LL.D., etc., British Museum.
- Rev. Dr. Moffat, late African Missionary.
- The High Bailiff of the Borough of Southwark.
- The Mayor of Reigate.
- Granville Leveson Gower, Esq., High Sheriff of Surrey.
- S. Birch, Esq., LL.D., etc., British Museum.
- Rev. Dr. Moffat, late African Missionary.
- The High Bailiff of the Borough of Southwark.
- The Mayor of Reigate.
It is proposed to found at Croydon[7] an Institution to be called the East Surrey Hall, Museum and Library. This Institution, to be placed in the largest town of Surrey, is intended for the benefit and use of the whole county.
The Hall will be adapted for public meetings of every description, and it is hoped that it will also be an ornament to the town.
In the Museum it is intended to form a collection of objects of historic, scientific, and artistic interest, particularly of such as may be found in the County of Surrey. The Museum will be free.
The Library will consist of standard works of reference, arranged in rooms suitably furnished for the [[325]]purposes of reading and study. In addition to works on general literature, it is intended to place in this Library, Books, Maps, and everything of the like nature, tending to elucidate the History, Topography, etc., of the County of Surrey, and especially of the Parish of Croydon. In the Company’s Memorandum of Association it is expressly stipulated that one department of this Library shall be Free.
Other parts of the building will be so arranged as to be suitable for occupation, or for letting as offices to Friendly Societies and other Public Bodies.
The Capital required to found this Institution will be raised by means of Donations and One Pound Shares.
The Donations will be applied to carrying out all or any of the above objects, according as the Donor may desire.