In the preface to the catalogue it is stated that it was compiled in accordance with a plan suggested by Dr. Samuel Johnson. His Majesty’s Librarian was Sir Frederick Barnard, who survived his royal master, and continued to hold the appointment until the library became national property. He died at the age of 87 on the 27th of January, 1830. Soon after the reception of the gift, a Select Committee of the House of Commons reported (April 18, 1823) that a new fire-proof building ought to be erected to preserve it from all risks, and accordingly the present east wing of the Museum was built, at the cost of £140,000, by Sir Robert Smirke. The upper floor, though it has been used for the Natural History collection, was intended for a picture gallery and for the reception of MSS. The new building was completed in 1826, but the library was not opened for two years afterwards. The room is 300 feet in length, 55 feet in width in the centre, and 31 in height. The presses are all glazed to preserve the books from dust. In the centre of the room are four columns of Aberdeen granite, each of a single piece, surmounted by Corinthian capitals of Derbyshire alabaster. Over the door are inscriptions, one in Latin and the other in English, in these terms:—“This Library, collected by King George III., was given to the British Nation by his Most Gracious Majesty George IV., in the third year of his reign, A.D., MDCCCXXIII.” As to the reality of the gift to the nation there is some doubt; for it appears that George IV., having some pressing call for money, did not decline a proposition for selling the library in question to the Emperor of Russia. Mr. Heber, the bibliographer and book collector, having ascertained the facts, and that the books were in danger of leaving for the Baltic, sought an interview with Lord Sidmouth, the Home Secretary, and stated the case, observing—“_What a shame it would be that such a collection should go out of the country!_” to which Lord Sidmouth replied, “_It shall not_;” and, as it proved afterwards, the library was presented to the nation, but on condition that the value should be paid, which was done from the surplus of certain funds furnished by France for the compensation of “losses by the revolution.” With this necessarily brief account of the rise and progress of the British Museum, we return now to the immediate subject of these memoirs. In the previous chapter reference has been made to Panizzi’s dislike to the appellation of “_foreigner_” a dislike, which, indeed, he always entertained. The act of naturalization took place scarcely one year after he became a servant of the Trustees of the British Museum. It bears the date of March 24th, 1832, and was, as might be expected, a source of great satisfaction to him.