February 5th, 1866.
“My dear Sir Roderick,
I greatly rejoice that you are about to propose our friend Panizzi for election at the Athenæum.
I know few persons for whom, if on the Committee, I should have voted with a more clear conscience, or with more earnest desire for success.
As a man of letters I know few persons with a more extensive knowledge of literature; as an author, his introduction to the edition of Bojardo and Ariosto, containing a most masterly view of Italian poetry, is, I believe, his chief claim. But I have read other scattered works, perhaps less generally known, which I hold in high estimation. As to his public services, his long and most useful connection with the British Museum, cannot be more justly or fully appreciated than by yourself, and I am sure that we should entirely agree on this subject; above all, the great national gift of the Reading-Room, the envy and admiration of Europe, is, as you well know, almost his entire creation, from the original design to the most minute detail, from the dome to the inkstands and book-shelves.
I most heartily, my dear Murchison, wish you success, and remain ever most truly yours,
H. H. Milman.”
The answer to Sir Roderick’s letter was this:—
“31, Bloomsbury Square,
February 6, 1866.