VII. RECONSTRUCTORS AND PROJECTORS. ‘The comprehensive character of the British Museum—the origin of which may be traced to the heterogeneous nature of Sir Hans SLOANE’S bequest—doubtless makes it difficult to provide for the expansion of its various branches, according to their relative demands upon the space and light which can be applied to their accommodation. Any attempt, however, now to diminish that difficulty by segregating any portion, or by scattering in various localities the components of the vast aggregate, would involve a sacrifice of great scientific advantages which are not the less inherent in their union because that union was, in its origin, fortuitous.... ‘Some passages of our evidence ... illustrate the difficulty of drawing a line of separation, for purposes of management and superintendence, between certain Collections.... Its occurrence [_i. e._ the occurrence of such a difficulty] indicates strongly the value to Science, of the accidents which have placed in near juxtaposition the Collections of mineralogy [and] of forms of existing and extinct animal and vegetable life. The immediate connexion of all alike with the Library of the Museum is too important to allow us to contemplate its dissolution.’—_Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Constitution and Management of the British Museum_ (1850), p. 36. CHAPTER I. GENERAL VIEW OF THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM, UNDER THE ADMINISTRATION, AS PRINCIPAL-LIBRARIAN, OF JOSEPH PLANTA. ... Perséverance keeps honour bright. To have done, is to hang Quite out of fashion, like a rusty mail In monumental mockery. _Troilus and Cressida._ ‘Signor, mirate, come ’l tempo vola, E siccome la vita Fugge, e la Morte nè sovra le spalle, Voi siete or qui: pensate alla partita Che l’ alma ignuda e sola Conven ch’ arrive a quel dubbioso calle.’. PETRARCH (_Italia mia_, &c.). _Notices of the Life of Joseph_ PLANTA, _third Principal-Librarian.—Improvements in the Internal Economy of the Museum introduced or recommended by Mr._ PLANTA.—_His labours for the enlargement of the Collections—and on the Museum Publications and Catalogues.—The Museum Gardens and the Duke of_ BEDFORD.