Library Notes and Netvs. 93 other two now being in course of erection. At present the building contained about 4,000 volumes, but there was shelf accommodation for close upon 10,000. The Rev. J. E. C. Welldon, after referring to the value of public libraries as counter attractions to the public-house and " bucket-shop," observed that in order to love a book it was necessary to know it well. Reading has been democratised, and public libraries were for the poor as well as for the well-to-do. When he thought of the ever- accumulating mass of literature, of the Niagara of books, he recognised the great difficulty of selecting what to read. There were two ways of reading books Comparatively few should be, in Bacon's phrase, " chewed and digested." It was necessary to cultivate the power of rapidly tearing the heart out of novels, biographies, modern histories, and other works. That power, which was quite consistent with accurate reading, led to an enormous economy of time. Abridgments, extracts, and reviews, were useless as substitutes for the books themselves. By adopting the method he advocated, most persons would find time to diligently study the Bible, " The Pilgrim's Progress," Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, Goethe, Gibbon's " Decline and Fall," Darwin's " Origin of Species," and others of the first rank. WILLESDEN. HARLESDEN PUBLIC LIBRARY. A new building, raised by the public spirit of the people in this rapidly increasing and progressive district, was opened on February I4th, as a Public Lending Library and Reading Room. The institution is an addition to those at Willesden and Kilburn, and has been built and furnished at a cost of .2,600. The building is in Craven Park Road. With Mr. Samuel R. Hutt, who presided, were Sir H. Roscoe, M.P., Mr. Ambrose, M.P. for the Harrow Division, representatives of district bodies. Sir H. Roscoe, in the inaugural address, regarded the establishment of Free Libraries as one of the most satisfactory proofs of the advance of England in civilisation and refinement. Harlesden, he said, with a population of 20,000, stood second on the list of all England of districts which had increased enormously within the past few years. He gave an interesting address on books and reading, recommending the adoption of some definite course of study. WINDSOR. Mr. J. Cross, who was employed for many years in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle, and has recently acted as assistant- librarian, died on December 3ist, after a brief illness. The deceased was upwards of 60 years of age. THE LATE MAJOR PLANT, F.G.S. THE death took place in Anglesey a short time ago, in his seventy-fifth year, of Major Plant, F.G.S., who was for forty-three years librarian and curator of the Salford Free Library and Museum. He was appointed in 1849, an d retired in April, 1892. On his retirement he received handsome and substantial recognitions of his valuable and prolonged services, and more recently his portrait, specially subscribed for and painted, has been placed on the walls of the institution over which he presided. He was a native of Leicester, and for some years was curator of the museum in that town, and was for a long period an active member of several of the learned and scientific societies in Manchester, contributing numerous papers, chiefly on geology, to their transactions. He was also for many years
