the privilege may be transferred, as seems but reasonable, to Rome.  But I do not see why it should be necessary thus to impoverish Florence to enrich the capital.  In England the law requires eleven copies which are distributed to the great libraries of the three kingdoms.  It is true that this exaction has sometimes been complained of, and it is said that in the case of very costly illustrated works the tax is a very heavy one, and that in some instances it has operated to make the production of certain books impossible.  And perhaps it may be reasonable to make some regulation by which such works should be exempted from the obligation.  But in ordinary cases the tax is an almost inappreciable one, and, such as it is, must of course fall ultimately on the writers and readers of books—­mainly on the latter—­for the benefit of which classes libraries exist.  It seems to me, therefore, that a somewhat larger number of copies than one or two might reasonably and advantageously be exacted from publishers.  And if three or four copies were delivered to the great Roman library, there would be the means of effecting very advantageous exchanges with other countries.  I asked Signor Castellani what increase in the number of volumes the locale now at the disposal of the library would be capable of accommodating.  He said that there would be room for about seven hundred thousand volumes, evidently a quite inadequate provision for the future.  Many years will not elapse before the measure which is now demanded at the British Museum—­viz., the removal of all the various collections housed there to other localities, and the dedication of the entire building to the library—­will become necessary at the old Collegio Romano.  Vast as the building is, the entirety of it is not at all too large for the Roman library of the future.  Or—­since we are allowing our thoughts to consider events which cast their shadows before as if they were accomplished facts—­may it not perhaps be found better some of these days to move the whole of the present collection to the Vatican, to be united with the colossal and almost unknown hoards there buried in one collection?  As it is, a new reading-room, after the model of that existing at the National Library in Paris, is about to be built in the courtyard of the Collegio Romano.  The classification, arrangement and methods of working the library will be copied in great measure from those introduced by Mr. Panizzi at the British Museum.  Unlike the liberal practice of the great German libraries, no volume will be on any account permitted to leave the library.  I was sorry to find that in one all-important respect the Roman practice as regards the national library will differ from that of London.  The collection is being catalogued in slips, to be kept, after the fashion of booksellers, in boxes made for the purpose, and there is no present intention of making any catalogue in volumes accessible to the public.  Of course it is impossible to allow the