Part 3

I must again say, that the matters under discussion can only be settled by a higher authority than yours. _You_ have brought the subject before the Trustees,--_I_ have, as I usually do on subjects which concern the Public, laid the facts before the Public. You can vindicate your proceedings either to the Trustees or to the Public. I avow and maintain all I have, and all I may yet say; but I decidedly decline to continue this correspondence, because I am sure it can lead to no desirable result, and for the other reasons which I have assigned. I consider the subject one of a _Public Nature_, and regret to perceive that you are angry; for, until your last letter, I had determined to avoid making any _personal remark_ likely to displease you.

Believe me, &c.

I can have no sort of objection to your laying this and my last letter, together with the communication which you will receive from me on Monday next, before the Trustees, if you see fit.

No. XI. _Mr. Panizzi to Sir N. H. Nicolas._

May 27th, 1846. SIR,

I am surprised to find that the expressions which displease you most in my letter of the 26th instant, are those which I transcribed _verbatim_ from one which you volunteered to write to me in 1837,[C] and of which I enclose a copy. You _then_ warmly approved of those very arrangements which you _now_ so violently condemn.

I call upon you to publish the enclosed along with the observations which you are to send me on Monday next, in order that all unprejudiced and sincere persons may judge what reliance is to be placed on the opinions and assertions of a man endowed with so flexible a judgment, and so treacherous a memory.

I am, &c.

No. XII. _Sir N. H. Nicolas to Mr. Panizzi._

Torrington Square, 26 May, 1846. SIR,

Your communication of this day induces me, most reluctantly, to add one more letter to our correspondence. It is proper that I should advert to my letter of the 20th of October, 1837, of which you have made so candid and gentlemanly, and, if I condescended to imitate your style, I might say, so "_characteristic_" a use.

The production of that letter gives me neither surprise nor concern. I usually write and speak from the impression of the moment, and must expect occasionally, especially after an interval of nearly nine years, to find some inconsistencies in my opinions. In this case, however, the inconsistency is more apparent than real; but, be it great or small, you are welcome to any use you can make of it.

The facts, as you well know, were these: In 1837 it seems that I was not satisfied with the management of the Reading Room, as the time in obtaining printed books was greater than it had formerly been. You succeeded to the Department, and introduced the Rules which have in practice proved inconvenient, but which were supposed to do much, within the first few weeks after your appointment, to remedy the evil. It seems also that you made other improvements, and that the changes elicited my praise. Experience has, however, proved that I was mistaken; and I have long since seen my mistake. So long as the apparent effect lasted, it appeared to justify the apparent cause. It was better to give ten minutes to the Catalogue, than to wait three, not to say six times as long (as I have often done of late) for a book. The additional trouble, however, remains, without the advantage which alone justified its imposition. It is really too much to oblige Readers to waste their time over the Catalogue, and to revert to worse than the old delays. So long as your plan worked well, I approved of it. For some years past it has worked ill, and I have condemned it. You wisely tried an experiment, but you unwisely continue the plan, though it has failed. I have no reluctance to avow a change in my opinions, whenever it has been produced by a change in the circumstances on which it was formed; but I have no respect for mulish obstinacy, or bigotted self sufficiency.

You may be sure that if a convenient opportunity be afforded me for printing my letter to you of October, 1837, it shall, after collation with the original, be published. But I will not separate it from this correspondence. The English Public would learn with astonishment the manner in which, by a series of _unmarked_ quotations, a generous letter may be perverted to ungenerous purposes.

I am, &c.

P. S. Should you possess any letter from me commending the _plan_ of the _Catalogue_, I should be very happy to add it to our recent correspondence.

N. H. N.

LONDON: PRINTED BY CHARLES WHITTINGHAM, TOOKS COURT, 1846.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] The passages marked with inverted commas in praise of what Sir N. H. Nicolas now condemns, are, _mutatis mutandis_, from his own letter of the 20th of October, 1837, inserted above, p. 5. They were not so marked in my original letter of the 25th of May. Sir Nicholas complains of this in the following words: "The English Public would learn with astonishment, the manner in which, by a series of _unmarked_ quotations, a generous letter may be perverted to ungenerous purposes." The purpose for which I used his letter, was my own defence against his attacks,--his own former words being the most triumphant answer to his _recent_ opinions; and I do not see why I should be found fault with, because I have shown that Sir Nicholas unsays _now_ what he has formerly said, though he denied having said it. Does he mean to avow at last, that he has ventured to attack me _recently_, because he had forgotten, _not_ his former opinions, (opinions so strongly entertained are _not_ forgotten) but his having expressed them? A. P.

[B] It seems--from the impression which others have of this occurrence which I have totally forgotten,--that Sir N. H. Nicolas could not obtain the Index, because it was not entered in the Catalogue; whence I concluded that it was not in the Library. If all this be true, it only proves _an error in the Catalogue_; but it has nothing to do with the working of the system, as Sir N. H. Nicolas must know as well as I do.

A. P.

[C] This letter has been inserted above, page 7.

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TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:

Text in italics is surrounded with underscores: _italics_.

Inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation have been retained from the original.

Punctuation errors have been corrected without note.

Superscripted characters are indicated by a carat character with the superscripted characters in curly braces: 8^{o}.