That the Trustees were satisfied with the performance of Panizzi’s duties there can be no doubt, and it will be interesting to record his earliest labours. His first report is dated May 4th, 1831, in which it is stated that he was engaged in transcribing a catalogue of duplicates to be submitted to the Royal Society for their selection. This duty was soon followed by cataloguing an extraordinary collection of tracts, illustrative of the history of the French Revolution, and formerly the property of Mr. Croker. That it was no easy task, and that it demanded special attention, may be gathered from a letter which the cataloguer addressed on the 18th of April, 1834, to Mr. Baber, then his superior officer:—
“1st. As to the omission of the Christian name of the author, when his family name is given.
2nd. As to the great proportion of anonymous tracts.
3rd. As to the number of works without any author’s name or title whatever, or with so vague a title as to be of no use for the purpose of cataloguing the work.”
He continues:—
“Much time is spent in searching for names or for authors, and in glancing over tracts to see what is their subject, to catalogue them properly, after a most tedious search proves useless with respect to the first point, and no evidence remains of the trouble and loss of time which it causes. I cannot catalogue more than forty tracts each day.”
As it is a matter of importance that Panizzi’s stormy connection with the Royal Society should be fairly and impartially added to these memoirs, and as we have now arrived at the period when, for the proper elucidation of the facts thereto belonging, the whole circumstances of the case should be thoroughly weighed and dwelt upon, it will be necessary to devote a few pages to a clear account of the proposal made by that Society, of the obstacles that were placed in Panizzi’s path, in his conscientious endeavours to fulfil the obligations imposed on him, and of the untiring zeal and patience he displayed in doing his duty in the matter, and in opposing the force with which it was attempted to crush the evidence of his superior talent, and to trample under foot even the Society’s own verbal agreements upon which, as coming from a body of men beyond suspicion, Panizzi relied. The whole of that opposition was successfully surmounted by his undoubted genius.
Biographers generally have to undergo the tedium of monotony in their faithful endeavours to reproduce the lives of those whose careers they pen, and it is only at certain epochs in the course of the lives of consistent men that an opportunity is afforded for a discursive chapter such as is now presented to our readers. It deserves, however, due consideration, and has its value as a proof of the forbearance, learning, and perseverance of the man of whom we are writing; whilst it, without doubt, throws somewhat into shade the members of a very learned Society, who vainly strove, first from want of knowledge of their own requirements, and secondly from non-appreciation of him with whom they had to deal, to undervalue true talent, and, by their associative power, to make a show of quashing not only Panizzi’s (subsequently proved) intelligence, but also his right to acknowledgment for the new light he threw upon their want of accuracy and knowledge for the work which they had confided to him, and for which they should—some, at least, must—have known he was so eminently fitted.
The origin, progress, and dénoûment of this affair cannot be brought within very small compass; but attracting (as they did at the time) the notice of many literary men, are worthy of some space in this volume.
It would be amusing to watch the progress of this attempt to thwart Panizzi’s intentions for the development of that which he so well understood, even were it not also a necessary record of the heartburnings of, and wrongs done to, one who, justly confident in his own position, had to prove, step by step, willingly or not, for his own defence, his superiority to those whose business it was to direct him, and not to derive from him their inspiration.