It will have been inferred from the previous chapter, that there is not a better sight in London than the British Museum: indeed there are few places better worth seeing in the world. There is one department, however, of this institution of which the public hear but little, and which those who view the other departments never see: I allude to the Reading-room. It is situated at the eastern part of the building, the entrance to which is through the gateway on the right hand side as you enter. It is within a few yards of the large room appropriated to the reception of the library of George the Fourth; which that monarch gave as a present to the trustees of the institution for the benefit of the public. The reading-room of the British Museum is, I should suppose from a glance of the eye, about sixty or seventy feet in length, about thirty in breadth, and about thirty in height. At the farthest end there is a wooden partition. The space beyond this partition is usually called the inner room ; it is not half so large as the other, or first room.

No person is admitted into the reading-room of the British Museum without the written recommendation of some respectable householder, who must be known by name, if not personally, to Sir Henry Ellis, the librarian, to whom the application for admission must be made.