Of these we have attempted to give a clear and honest account. As Panizzi was one of those who felt sincerely that “whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well,” and as he was blessed with ability and decision of character to carry out whatever he had in hand, it is pleasant to remark how thoroughly and efficiently he applied his talents to the benefit of the National Institution; and much as it would delight us to expatiate further on the subject, we must deny ourselves at present, as it is now incumbent on us to enter into new channels in connection with his life.
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_Bridport Election; Desire to visit Modena; Mazzini; Post Office Espionage; Biographer’s Personal Reminiscences; Portland Vase; Psalter, 1457; Interview with Francis IV; Libri._
In the honest endeavour to represent a man as he really was, both in his inward and his outward bearings, the biographer has much difficulty to encounter. It behoves him to reproduce a life with special regard to dates, with no matter likely to confuse a reader, or to press too heavily on his understanding; but this biography claims an especial degree of attention, inasmuch as the principal person concerned, though actually absent from his best-loved _locale_, was proving the interest he took in affairs at home by his assiduous care of the duties with which he was entrusted. Panizzi possessed no more power of ubiquity than other men; still such was his energy that only a close observer could follow his movements, and his wonderful activity often made him appear to be in many places at the same time, and induced the belief that he was, at all events, performing a dual character.
These observations are made simply to warn the reader against mystification as to Panizzi’s movements, related in the pages which follow—pages it is now incumbent on us to pen—for whereas he has lately been treated of more especially in his official capacity, our position must be changed, and he must be regarded from a political and personal point of view. Indeed, the phases in which so remarkable a man may be contemplated, are so varied that it requires consideration whence to take our first observation.