In a precious volume, which was first added to the manuscript stores of the British Museum a little before Mr. WATTS’ death, there occurs the rough jotting of a thought which is very apposite to our human and natural reflections upon such an early removal from the scene of labour as that just referred to. When somebody spoke to BACON of the death, in the midst of duty and of mental vigour, of some good worker or other in the vineyard of this world, almost three centuries ago, he made the following entry in his private note-book:—‘Princes, when in jousts, triumphs, or games of victory, men deserve crowns for their performance, do not crown them below, where the deeds are performed, but call them up. [Sidenote: Lord Bacon’s _Note-Book_ (MS. ADDIT. B. M.).] So doth God by death.’ [Sidenote: OTHER LITERARY LABOURS OF THOMAS WATTS.] But these several branches of public duty, onerous as they were, were far from exhausting Mr. WATTS’ mental activity, either within the Museum walls or outside of them. He was a frequent contributor to periodical literature. To his pen the _Quarterly Review_ was indebted for an excellent article on the _History of Cyclopædias_; the ATHENÆUM, for a long series of papers on various topics of literary history and of current literature, extending over many years; the various Cyclopædias and Biographical Dictionaries successively edited by Mr. Charles KNIGHT, for a long series of valuable notices, embracing the Language and Literature of Hungary; those of Wales; and more than a hundred and thirty brief biographical memoirs, distinguished alike for careful research and for clear and vigorous expression. These biographies relate, for the most part, to foreign men of letters. To the pages of the _Transactions of the Philological Society_ he was a frequent contributor. His Memoir on Hungarian Literature, first read to that Society, procured him the distinction of a corresponding-membership of the Hungarian Academy, and the distinction was enhanced by his being elected on the same day with Lord MACAULAY. Within the Museum itself two distinct and important departments of official labour, both of which he filled with intelligence and zeal, have yet to be indicated. [Sidenote: THE MUSEUM PRINTED BOOK CATALOGUE OF 1839–1869, AND WATTS’ LABOURS IN RELATION TO IT.] In 1839, he took part—with others—in framing an extensive code of ‘rules’ for the re-compilation of the entire body of the Catalogues of Printed Books. In May, 1857, he took charge of the Public Reading-Room, as Chief Superintendent of the daily service.