Volume 4

Old and new London : a narrative of its history, its people, and its places / [Walter Thornbury].

  • Thornbury, Walter, 1828-1876.
Date:
[1873-1878]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Old and new London : a narrative of its history, its people, and its places / [Walter Thornbury]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    602/612 (page 570)
    57° English sculptor—in the shape of drawings, models in plaster and wax, and other interesting relics— which were disposed of by public auction in April, 1876, and realised a sum of more than ,£2,000. In the vestibule of the college is Flaxman’s restoration of the Farnese Hercules; beneath the dome is his grand life-size group of “ Michael and Satan;” and around the walls are his various monu- mental and other bas-reliefs. In an adjoining room was placed Flaxman’s “ Shield of Achilles ” and other works. In the ground-floor are lecture-rooms, cloisters for the exercise of the pupils, two semi-circular theatres, the chemical laboratory, and museum of materia medica. In the upper floor, besides the great hall above mentioned, are museums of natural history and anatomy, two theatres, two libraries, and other rooms set apart for the purposes of the college. The principal library is richly decorated in the Italian style ; it is large and valuable, containing upwards of 68,000 volumes and 16,000 pamphlets, to which has lately been added a fine collection of works on mathematics, physics, and astronomy, the gift of the late Mr. J. T. Graves. The labora- tory, completed from the plan of Professor Donald- son in 1845, is stated to combine all the recent improvements of our own schools with that of Pro- fessor Liebig, at Giessen. At University College the Graphic Club, com- posed of artists, painters, and engravers, used to hold their monthly meetings for the purpose of interchange of thought on matters connected with the fine arts. The club was originally established by the late Mr. John Burnet and his friends; and it numbered among its members J. M. W. Turner, Prout, Landseer, Clarkson Stanfield, and other de- parted worthies. On the opposite side of Gower Street, facing the college gates, is the North London, or Univer- sity College Hospital. It was founded soon after the college itself, under the presidency of Lord Brougham, for the relief of poor sick and maimed persons, and the delivery of poor married women; and also for furthering the objects of the college, by affording improved means of practical instruc- tion in medicine and surgery to the medical students of the college under the superintendence of its professors. The building, which was erected from the designs of Mr. Alfred Ainger, affords accom- modation for 160 beds, fourteen of which, in two separate wards, are devoted exclusively to the use of children under twelve years of age. The total number of persons relieved yearly is about 20,000, at the cost of £ 15,000; whilst the income from quite half that sum, thus leaving a yearly deficit of nearly ,£8,000 to be provided for. In Grafton Street East, and nearly opposite the hospital, is the Dissenters’ Library, which was origi- nally founded in Cripplegate,* in the year 1711, by Dr. Daniel Williams, a Presbyterian minister, for the use of the Presbyterian, Independent, and Baptist persuasions, with a salary for a librarian and house- keeper. In pursuance of his will, a building was erected in Redcross Street, with space for 40,000 volumes (though the original collection did not com- prise more than 16,000 volumes), and an apartment for the curator. In the library was also a register in which Dissenters might record the births of their children. When the premises in Redcross Street were required for the extension of the Metropolitan Railway, in 1865, the library was temporarily trans- ferred to a hired house in Queen Square, Blooms- bury, where it remained for eight years, until a home was found for it here. The site of the new library cost £4,000, and the new building in which it is lodged £7,000 more. It is a plain and substantial Gothic building. The basement includes, besides offices, strong rooms for the custody of manuscripts. On the ground floor are the entrance-hall, committee- rooms, waiting-rooms, &c. The library occupies the whole first floor, which is lofty and well lighted. The upper portion of the building is occupied by the librarian. The architect was Mr. T. Chatfield Clarke, and the structure is as nearly fireproof as possible. The library, a very rich collection of theological works, and especially of Nonconformist literature, was first actually opened in 1729,and the new library was completed and opened in September, 1873. It now comprises about 30,000 volumes, among which are various editions of the Bible., also the first folio edition of Shakespeare; but there are no Caxtons or Wynkyn de Wordes. The library is open to respectable persons of every class daily throughout the year, excepting during the month of August and in Christmas week ; on Good Friday and Whit Monday it is also closed. Books are allowed to be taken out under proper restrictions. Upon the walls of the library are portraits of Richard Baxter, by Riley; of Matthew Henry, of Wm. Tyndale, of Joseph Priestley, by Fuseli; of John Milton, and of Isaac Watts. The trustees, twenty-three in number, must all be Presbyterians ; and it may be added that each trustee makes a present of books to the library. Of Dr. Williams’s ministerial career we have already spoken in our account of Redcross Street;