all the Histories of France, side by side; proceed on the same principles with the whole of your books, and your classed catalogue will be made: it may take a slight amount of trouble, yet any body with an ounce of brains and a little good will can and must succeed; real difficulty there is none.' It is impossible to suppress a smile when one thinks how many men there are even in this University to whom this sad nonsense appears to be perfectly sane and rational. 'But,' my hazy friend continues, 'you surely forget that what you so dogmatically call 'nonsense' is advocated by a large number, perhaps by a majority of librarians; they must know all about books; it is their profession.' No, I do not forget the librarians, to whom, their profession and qualifications, I shall some day return. “A man thinks to himself how pleasant it would be to turn-let us say-to the head Balloon,' and there see all the books that treat of them arranged in the exact order that suits him (it will suit nobody else); another wishes to discover what were the popular London Songs at the Restoration; another desires to prime himself for a paper on the Ink of the Middle Ages; all expect to discover what they require in the classed catalogue. Under what head ought 'Balloon' to come? That depends on the way in which you look at them. Those who dream of travelling in the air will be disposed to think that travelling in the air should stand somewhere near travelling on land and travelling on water: those who look on the balloon as a toy, an amusement, an entertainment for a tea-garden, will be inclined to hunt for them under Sports, Pastimes, and Amusements: those who regard them as bags full of gas lighter than air may search under Natural Philosophy. Quot homines tot sententiae, and, what is rare, everybody is right. You may with perfect correctness look at a balloon in an indefinite number of ways, and ON THE BODLEIAN CLASSED CATALOGUE. BY William HENRY W. CHANDLER, M.A. FELLOW OF PEMBROKE COLLEGE, OXFORD. PRICE ONE SHILLING. C. B. H. BLACKWELL, 50 AND 51, BROAD STREET. NOTE. FROM the preface and its date it will be seen that these 'Observations' were printed and ready for publication at the end of September last; and I intended that they should be issued as soon as I received notice of the Special Meeting which was ordered to be held early in October. Days rolled on; days became weeks, and yet no notice came; so at last I changed my mind, and resolved to withhold the paper till after the meeting. It was possible that there might be no need to publish it at all. At length on Thursday, Oct. 25, ten Curators met. One member of the committee on the Classed Catalogue moved the adoption of the report (see p. 17), and another member of the same committee seconded the proposal. Then we all talked. I observed that three years ago I circulated amongst the Curators reasons (see p. 6) which seemed to me fatal to any classed catalogue, and that I did not intend to waste time by repeating them. At length we divided, when five voted for the continuance of the Classed Catalogue and four against it, so that my belief (p. 31) was well founded. October 25th, 1888.. H. W. C. |