“The following letter has been sent to the Lord Chancellor by the Rev. H. F. Cary, the Translator of Dante, who seems to have been treated with extraordinary injustice:— ‘British Museum, July 17, ‘My Lord, I cannot suffer the communication yesterday made to me by our Secretary, of your having passed me by in the nomination to the vacant office of Librarian, and appointed a subordinate Officer over my head, to reach me without an immediate remonstrance against this disposal of your patronage. I have for the course of eleven years been constant in the discharge of irksome duties in this establishment; and at a moment when I was told to expect the reward never yet denied in this place to such claims, I find it snatched from me by yourself and the Speaker of the House of Commons, in the face of a recommendation from the other Principal Trustee, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the only one of the three who has been in the habit of attending here, and making himself acquainted with our proceedings. My repeated requests for a personal interview with your Lordship were met by refusal, and a desire to communicate whatever I had to say by letter. Three letters which I addressed to you were met by silence. In the last of these letters I endeavoured to answer the objections which the Archbishop with his usual humanity and consideration for the humblest of those who have any claim on his attention, had apprised me of, as existing on the part of the other Trustees. The objections were my age and the general state of my health. My age, between 64 and 65 years, it was plain, might rather ask for me that alleviation of labour which, in this as in many other public offices is gained by promotion to a superior place, than call for a continuance of the same laborious employment. My health for the last four years has been such as to allow me, with the interval of one fortnight only, to attend closely through every day to the business of my department. Before that time (and it was the only other instance of ill-health since I have been here) I had a severe illness, occasioned by domestic affliction, on account of which I was permitted to pass six months on the Continent, and even that time was not wholly lost to the Museum, as I availed myself of the opportunity to inquire into the state and management of the public Libraries in most of the principal cities in Italy, where chiefly my time was spent. Lest however, I should deceive myself as to the present state of my health, I thought it right to consult three medical men who best know the ailments I have been subject to. Their opinions I immediately laid before the Archbishop, and copies of them before yourself and the Speaker. They were unanimous as to my fitness in point of health for the place I solicited. On their testimonies and