I can quite imagine that Eton, Winchester, Westminster, Harrow, Shrewsbury, and other similar great schools, would have such libraries, but these are not half the number of our public foundations; the wealthy schools above mentioned, and the rich men's children who go to them, would be in a sad plight indeed were they not amply provided for in such matters. But there are others whose mission is not less important, perhaps more so; and on this head none would be better pleased than I to find I laboured under an "erroneous impression," as remarked by ETONENSIS. The English public appeared to have an "erroneous impression" that they were better provided with books than any other people a short time ago, till it was disproved when the agitation respecting parochial libraries was set on foot, the facts appearing on the institution of the Marylebone public library.
It has been shown that in France and Germany the public libraries, and the volumes in them, far exceed any that we possess; a strange fact, when we are better provided with standard authors than any other language in the world. I should much wish these brief parallels answered. The city of Lyons has a magnificent public library of 100,000 vols., open to all; how many has her rival Manchester? Boulogne has a public library of 16,000 vols.; how many has Southampton? From the obliging notices of correspondents in "N. & Q.," we have had several articles on parochial libraries, and the sum of the whole appears to be most miserable; surely some bad system has prevailed either in not having proper places for them, or in some other fault. In one place the resident clergyman sells them: surely if they were combined under some enlarged plan, people desirous of making bequests or gifts would do so very willingly when they knew they would be cared for and made use of; for it is probably the case that private libraries are more numerous here than abroad, and that there are altogether more books in the country. I am told by a correspondent that in his time there were no books at Christ's Hospital, therefore the bequest made is, I presume, a late one; and if such is the case, it will be a favourable opportunity for the governors of that school to enlarge the collection and make it available to the scholars.