too crowded the meetings were adjourned to the more spacious drawingrooms above, which witnessed not only "feasts of reason and flow of soul" but banquets worthy of the host and of the guests. He was in every sense a bountiful provider, and it can be honestly averred that he no sooner became aware of the peculiar taste of a visitor who was likely to return, than he took care that the latter should find his favorite brand and beverage ready to welcome him. These Noctes Attica, or Ambrosianæ,* can be most justly and truthfully compared to those famous gatherings in certain Parisian salons, wherein brilliant companies assembled around bright hosts and thereby rendered the amphytrion as renowned as the guests and their tournaments of wit and intellect. Such assemblages as those of Mr. Hamersley required in the host peculiar talents and consummate tact to make them a triumphant series of successes, such as they are universally acknowledged to have been. These delightful Friday evenings, which continued year after year without the slightest eclipse or shadow, are not likely to find parallels in New York; and it is not at all probable that the "colonel," as he was saluted by those who "have us'd their dearest action in the tented field," will find a successor, or that his place with its manifold attractions will soon be filled, if, indeed, it can ever be at all. A detailed and interesting account of these Noctes Attice was written quite a number of years since by the noted American philologist, Edward S. Gould, and published in the Oriental Magazine (Vol. II., No. 1, March, 1860), where it attracted much attention. A more circumstantial account was afterward drawn up by the author of this paper, who for a number of years made notes of those who appeared in "the den." It became at last too sad a task to continue the record, because death began to make such ravages that, year by year the veterans falling out, but a very, very few only of those who originally constituted the circle are now alive to throw a flower upon the last resting-place of the lamented central figure. Whoever did keep any tally of those who met at 255 Fifth avenue, and was a constant visitor, could recall his meeting there with all of the first men of the day in every direction of celebrity. The mere list would astonish with its variety and value. It is very seldom that a private citizen exerts himself to win distinction through such an elegant phase of hospitality, and his house was a rendezvous of hundreds upon hundreds who will never again * Few are aware that such salons are not a French idea, but owed their origin to Greek thought. Four centuries B. C., in the time of Philip of Macedon, there was a literary club called "The Sixty,” which met in the temple of Hercules; and the phrase “An old Joe" was known throughout Greece as "An old Sixty," equivalent to the "Chestnut" of to-day. enjoy an equal opportunity of common intercourse or the salutation and entertainment of a more genial host. One who should have known him best said, "Mr. Hamersley had made a dozen trips to Europe and the East, and was possessed of conversational powers that could make the most of what he had seen. He was witty in repartee and prompt with anecdote, as well as accomplished and learned, had a great knowledge of history, particularly of dates, and manifested sterling traits of character. Whatever may have been his motives he never would accept any public office and always avoided every position of public trust. Honorable, true, and upright in active life, he was patient, nay heroic, in Christian endurance at the end; a self-sacrificing father, warmly beloved by friends, and endeared to all about him, whether in business or service." What is more and best of all, the same friend bears witness that he was an "earnest Christian." Nothing but regret follows his demise. He could not have left an enemy; he must have left a multitude of sorrowing friends. In almost every line he was a purist, and perhaps that in itself added to the misunderstanding of the man. Peace be to his ashes, but peace there must be, for he endeavored to do his duty thoroughly; and in his duty to his associates and fellow-men, beyond his immediate circle, he will leave behind an infinitely few of citizens upon whose tombs can be inscribed with so much truth as upon his own: "Here lies a gentle gentleman.'" "Dear friends, when I am dead, Think, sometimes say, At morn, or noon, or point of dying day, I wish that he were with us-had not fled. For whether far or near, In earth or sky, To you, I think, I must be somehow nigh, JOHN JERVIS BERESFORD. GROWTH OF A GREAT NATIONAL LIBRARY 1800-1889 The great library of congress, numbering now well on to a round million of books, pamphlets, and miscellaneous publications, was born with the century. When it was finally decided by congress, after long and heated debate, that the seat of the government should be located upon the Potomac, far removed from the cities which at different times that body had occupied during the Revolutionary struggle, the more sagacious members were not unmindful that in their new location there would be the utmost need for a library of reference to which they might have ready access during the daily sessions. Thus it came about that at the very last session before the removal, the sum of $5,000 was appropriated for this purpose, upon the motion of Samuel Livermore, a graduate of Princeton college and a senator from New Hampshire. This sum was intended for the purchase of books and for the fitting. up of a suitable library room in the new capitol building in the wilderness; and a joint committee of congress, with Senator Dexter of Massachusetts as chairman, was appointed to have direction of the matter. This committee expended about $2,200 of the appropriation, and made their report at an early day in the first session held in the new capitol. This report was referred to a new committee, of which the celebrated John Randolph of Roanoke was a member. It is evident that the subject was a paramount one in that first session, for we find that this committee in turn reported in a few days, setting forth a series of resolutions looking to the establishment of a library upon a permanent basis and asking an annual appropriation for that purpose. Upon these resolutions there were hot debates. The Federalists were disposed to make liberal appropriations for the new enterprise, one member going so far as to advocate the annual outlay of ten thousand dollars; while on the other hand the Democrats were opposed to the use of any considerable sum. An establishing act was finally passed, but for the next five or six years it seems that the increase of the little nucleus was dependent upon the uncertain chances of the contingent funds of the two houses of congress. The first catalogue was issued in April, 1802, and gave the titles of nine hundred and sixty-four volumes. In 1806, upon the urgent appeal of those most interested in the matter, an appropriation was made of one thousand dollars per annum for five years. In 1811 this appropriation was extended to a period of five years longer. On the 24th of August, 1814, after the disastrous battle of Bladensburgh, the British forces took possession of the new metropolis, the first object of their vandalism being the new capitol building. The two wings of what is now called the old building had been erected, and were connected by a wooden passageway extending across the space at present occupied by the great rotunda. Everything combustible in the building was put to the torch, the books of the library being used to kindle the fires. It was one of the most wanton outrages ever perpetrated by the soldiery of a civilized government. The collection at this time contained about three thousand volumes. After this disaster to the enterprise, a new beginning was made by the purchase of the private library of ex-President Jefferson, numbering six thousand seven hundred volumes, for which the sum of $23,950 was paid. The final vote upon the passage of the bill authorizing the purchase, at the price named, was eighty-one yeas and seventy-one nays. Daniel Webster, then a member of congress from Massachusetts, opposed this purchase, and another member from the same state desired to have rejected all books of an atheistical, irreligious, and immoral tendency. The purchase was made, however, and lo, the collection was found richer in Bibles than in any other work! In 1818 the annual appropriation was raised to $2,000; in 1824 it was made $5,000, and this continued about the average annual amount for many years thereafter. About 1850 it was raised to $7,000, and soon after the beginning of the civil war it was made $10,000. In 1825 the library narrowly escaped destruction a second time from fire, though in point of fact the actual damage done was inconsiderable. At the end of fifty years of its existence it contained about fifty thousand volumes; but in 1851 occurred a third fire, which destroyed about thirtyfive thousand volumes, or three-fifths of the whole collection. Congress being then in session at once took measures to repair the damage; $72,500 was appropriated for the work, and $75,000 for the immediate purchase of books. The structure this time was made thoroughly fire-proof, and on July 1, 1853, the west hall was occupied. This now forms the main room of the library, and is ninety-one feet long, thirty-four feet wide, and thirtyfour feet high. Since then, two additional halls of about equal dimen sions have been added, the whole being fire-proof throughout, and the total cost of erection for all three amounting to $280,000. The law library was established during President Jackson's time, and the two thousand law books then in the collection were set aside as a nucleus for this department. In the quality of its material it soon outstripped the original collection, and now it is said to be the most complete law library in the world. It contains the statutes of all civilized nations, together with full sets of American, English, Irish, and Scotch reports. But the true era of the library's growth dates from the appointment in 1864 of Mr. A. R. Spofford as librarian. His predecessors had all been appointed for political reasons; he has filled the position for more than a quarter of a century, because of his eminent fitness therefor. He was a born librarian, just as now and then a poet is born. When he assumed charge, the collection numbered some seventy-five thousand or eighty thousand volumes. His first work was to make a new catalogue upon a different plan from the cumbrous and unwieldy one inherited from the Jefferson purchase. Soon after, in 1866, the library of the Smithsonian Institute was by consent of the regents of that trust and a special act of congress transferred to the collection. It consisted of forty thousand volumes, representing twenty years' accumulation since its establishment, and was particularly rich in works on the natural and exact sciences and in the publications of learned societies in all parts of the world and in nearly all modern languages. This collection has been increased from year to year by deposits from the same source. In 1867 the library was still further enriched by the purchase of the Force collection, containing some sixty thousand books, pamphlets, maps, and manuscripts. The owner, the late Peter Force of Washington, had been fifty years in gathering it, with a view of drawing therefrom the material for "A Documentary History of the United States." It was especially valuable for its works upon the early history and colonization of our country, and being altogether one of the richest and most unique historic collections ever gathered by the efforts of a private individual. For this purchase congress appropriated the sum of $100,000. By these accessions the library of congress became at once the most extensive and valuable repository of material for the wants of scholars to be found in the United States. In 1881 or 1882 was acquired by gift from Dr. Joseph Meredith Toner of Washington what will be known for all time as "The Toner Collection." It numbered some twenty-eight thousand books and eighteen |