long, 22ft.
wide, and 20ft. high, with a gallery round it. There are several
extensive libraries connected with places of worship, such as the Church
of the Saviour, Edward Street, Severn Street Schools, the Friends'
Meeting House, &c. and a number of valuable collections in the hands of
some well-known connoisseurs, literati, and antiquarians, access to most
of which may be obtained on proper introduction.
~Libraries (The Free).~--The first attempt to found a Free Library in
this town was the holding of a public meeting in April, 1852, under the
provisions of the Museums and Libraries Act of 1850, which allowed of a
1/2d. rate being levied for the support of such institutions. Whether
the townsfolk were careless on the subject, or extra careful, and
therefore, doubtful of the sufficiency of the 1/2d. rate to provide
them, is not certain; but so little interest was shown in the matter
that only 534 persons voted for the adoption of the Act, while 363 voted
against it, and the question for the time was shelved, as the Act
required the assents to be two-thirds of the total votes given. In 1855
the Commissioner of patents presented to the town some 200 volumes,
conditionally that they should be kept in a _Free_ Library, and about
the same time another proposal was made to establish such a Library, but
to no effect.
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