INTRODUCTORY. HE greater part of the materials used in the composition of this brief biographical sketch of Sir ANTHONY PANIZZI have already appeared in my late work, entitled Memories of the British Museum. I have done little more than to put in one continuous narrative the particulars which are spread over the pages of the work referred to. I beg that it may be distinctly understood that I have no other authority for anything I have advanced in either this or my former work, than that I have taken the best means within my reach of gleaning the fullest and most reliable particulars of the eventful and successful career of the eminent man under whom it has been my privilege and happiness to serve almost all through my official life. I am fully persuaded that the sketch and it must be considered nothing more I have attempted is both imperfect and fragmentary : it may prove, however, of service to some future biographer of the distinguished librarian, who still resides almost under the shadow of the great Institution he has done so much to popularize and improve. I beg to record my best acknowledgments to Mr. J. WINTER JONES, the present Principal Librarian, for permission to make free use of much that makes this notice of any value; and also for having kindly allowed me to adorn my humble tribute of affectionate respect with a copy from the most characteristic of the portraits that have been recently taken of Sir ANTHONY PANIZZI, which my friend, Mr. Stephen Thompson, has reproduced by the Woodbury process. With these few introductory remarks, I leave my work to the kindly judgment of my readers. MAITLAND PARK, HAMPSTEAD. APRIL 1, 1873. SIR ANTHONY LL.D., K.C. B., ETC., Late Principal Librarian, British Museum. OME are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." Thus is it written by "the greatest name in literature "-our own Shakspere; and it is seldom that we find in one man these three characteristics; as there are few indeed of whom it may be said, in the words of the same writer, that "Nature and Fortune joined to make thee great." We think, however, that the subject of this biographical sketch has some claim to the distinction referred to by our great poet. We have arrived at this conviction after a somewhat close observation, extending over a period of nearly forty years. An official connection with Sir Anthony Panizzi from the year 1835 will give the writer some claim to have studied the character of the distinguished man who has for half a century been identified with this, his adopted country. We have always felt that it is the glory of England that honest and able men who, from the political state of their own countries, have been compelled to take refuge here, have not merely enjoyed the bare right of an asylum, but have also had the freest opportunities of exercising their talents and abilities. A remarkable and honourable illustration of this is to be found in the case of the late Principal Librarian of the British Museum. Antonio Panizzi was born at Brescello, in the Duchy of Modena, on the 16th of September, 1797; Modena at that time forming a part of the Cisalpine Republic. After prosecuting his studies at the Lyceum of Reggio, where he remained till about seventeen years of age, he proceeded to the University of Padua. In 1818 he took his degree of Doctor of Laws, quitted the University, and prepared for practice in the superior branches of the legal profession. Born with a love of freedom, he entered with deep interest, and with all the ardour and freshness of a youthful vigour, into the political questions that were at this time agitating Europe, and more particularly as they affected his native country. He was physically a man beyond the average stature, with a head and face that at once indicated power of no common kind. While yet a student, he entered enthusiastically into the revolutionary movement, which ultimately broke out in Naples in 1820, and in Piedmont in the following year. In 1821 his participations in these movements became known to the Modenese Government through the cowardice of one of the conspirators, and the young Italian reformer judged it prudent to provide for his safety. On its becoming known to our hero that his name had been given up to the authorities, he immediately quitted Brescello, and, when at Cremona, most narrowly escaped seizure. A polite message was brought to him from the Commissary of Police, requesting his attendance; and it was from the house of this functionary that he saved his life by a precipitate flight. The charge against him was tried in his absence; he was found guilty per contumaciam, sentenced to death, and the confiscation of his property. He was actually hanged in effigy: the Modenese Government extended their hatred, and, we must add, their impudent assumption so far as to send an account to the young conspirator, on his arrival in England, of the cost of carrying out the sentence of the law. This latter fact seemed so astounding, that it was only when we heard from Sir Anthony Panizzi's own lips that it was really done, that we could bring ourselves to believe in such a state of things. Sir Anthony informed the writer that he had carefully preserved the papers, and indeed offered to give him a sight of these interesting State documents. If such a statement had been made in the pages of our contemporary, Punch, we might have enjoyed it as a joke, and ascribed it to the rich imaginative genius of our facetious |