Note 2 — JOSEPH-MARIE QUÉRARD.
Reading edition
We doubt whether so far as the public are concerned they are not gainers by his not being pensioned off with some such post. If he attended to his duties, would he have been able to go on with his work? In 1856, he himself complained that the Officers in the Imperial Library attended more to their own pursuits than to the Library or the public; although it is only open from 10 till 3, and no books to be asked for after ½ past 2. Le Quérard, II., 564.
We have often thought what an amount of erudition a certain gentleman at the British Museum must possess: it always reminds us of the sphinx, it never speaks, nor does it impart its knowledge concealed behind that expansive forehead. Even if some of the knowledge were imparted, should we not then complain that our library was ill-attended to?
Upon this point we would refer the reader to Mr. Panizzi’s characteristic evidence taken before the “Select Committee on the British Museum 1836,” commencing at 4919.