MILLBANK PRISON is a mass of brickwork equal to a fortress, on the left bank of the Thames, close to Vauxhall Bridge; erected on ground bought in 1799 of the Marquis of Salisbury, and established pursuant to 52 Geo. III., c. 44, passed Aug. 20th, 1812. It was designed by Jeremy Bentham, to whom the fee-simple of the ground was conveyed, and is said to have cost the enormous sum of half a million sterling. The external walls form an irregular octagon, and enclose upwards of sixteen acres of land. Its ground-plan resembles a wheel, the governor's house occupying a circle in the centre, from which radiate six piles of building, terminating externally in towers. The ground on which it stands is raised but little above the river, and was at one time considered

unhealthy. It was first named "The Penitentiary," or "Penitentiary House for London and Middlesex," and was called "The Millbank Prison," pursuant to 6 & 7 Victoria, c. 26. It is the largest prison in London, and contains accommodation for 1120 prisoners; the number of inmates averaging about 700. Every male and female convict sentenced to transportation in Great Britain is sent to Millbank, previous to the sentence being executed. Here they remain about three months under the close inspection of three inspectors, at the end of which time the inspectors report to the Home Secretary, and recommend the place of transportation. So far as the accommodation of the prison permits, the separate system is adopted. The number of persons in Great Britain and Ireland condemned to transportation every year amounts to about 4000. Admission to inspect-order from the Secretary of State for the Home Department, or the Directors of Government Prisons, 25, Parliament-street, Westminster.

THE MODEL PRISON, PENTONVILLE, Owes its origin to Sir James Graham's dispatch of December, 1842; established pursuant to 5 & 6 Vict., sess. 2, c. 29, for the detention of convicts condemned to and intended for transportation. The prison contains 1000 separate cells. The inmates are detained for two years, and are taught useful trades before being sent abroad; a most merciful and charitable provision, which it is to be hoped, may prove successful. The cost of each prisoner is about 15s. a week. The first stone was laid, 1840, and the building completed in 1842. The total cost was 84,1687. 12s. 2d.

THE HOUSE OF CORRECTION, COLD BATH FIELDS, will hold about 1200 prisoners, and is under the direction of the Middlesex Magistrates and the Secretary of State for the

Home Department.

There is a similar House of Correction at Westminster. The principal prisons for debtors are THE QUEEN'S BENCH in the Borough of Lambeth, and WHITECROSS STREET PRISON. The famous FLEET PRISON was abolished during the reign of her present Majesty.

The CITY OF LONDON PRISON, Holloway, (Mr. Bunning, Architect,) now (1851) nearly completed, will contain the class of prisoners committed at present to Giltspur Street House of Correction and the House of Correction for women at the Borough Compter: while, in the same way, the New House of Correction at Wandsworth will relieve the Surrey or Horsemonger Lane Gaol.

PERMANENT FREE EXHIBITIONS.

BRITISH MUSEUM, in GREAT RUSSELL STREET, BLOOMSBURY; built 1823-51 from the designs of Sir Robert Smirke, but completed by his younger brother Sydney Smirke, A.R.A. The sculpture in the pediment is by Sir Richard Westmacott.

The Public are admitted to the Museum on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, between 10 and 4, from the 7th of September to 1st of May; and between 10 and 7, from the 7th of May to 1st of September, and daily during the weeks of Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas, except Saturdays. Children under 8 years of age are not admitted.

The Reading Room is open every day, except on Sundays, on Ash-Wednesday, Good-Friday, Christmas-day, and on any fast or thanksgiving days, ordered by authority: except also between the 1st and 7th of January, the 1st and 7th of May, and the 1st and 7th of September, inclusive. The hours are from 9 till 7 during May, June, July, and August; and from 9 till 4 during the rest of the year. Persons desirous of admission are to send in their applications in writing (specifying their christian and surnames, rank or profession, and places of abode), to the Principal Librarian, or, in his absence, to the Secretary, or, in his absence, to the senior Under Librarian, who will either immediately admit such persons, or lay their applications before the next meeting of the trustees. Every person applying is to produce a recommendation satisfactory to a trustee or an officer of the house. Applications defective in this respect will not be attended to. Permission will in general be granted for six months; and at the expiration of this term fresh application is to be made for a renewal. The tickets given to readers are not transferable,

and no person can be admitted without a ticket. Persons under 18 years of age are not admissible. Artists are admitted to study in the Galleries of Sculpture, between the hours of 9 and 4, every day, except Saturday.

The Museum is closed from the 1st to the 7th of January, the 1st to the 7th of May, and the 1st to the 7th of September, inclusive, on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and Christmas Day, and also on any special fast or thanksgiving day, ordered by Authority.

The Print Room is closed on Saturdays.

The Medal and Print Rooms can be seen only by few persons at a time, and by particular permission.

The British Museum originated in an offer to Parliament, found in the will of Sir Hans Sloane (d. 1753), of the whole of his collection for 20,0007.-30,000l. less than it was said to have cost him. The offer was at once accepted, and an Act passed in 1753, "for the purchase of the Museum or Collection of Sir Hans Sloane, Bart., and of the Harleian Collection of MSS., and procuring one general repository for the better reception and more convenient use of the said Collection, and of the Cottonian Library, and additions thereto." In pursuance of this Act the sum of 300,000l. was raised by a Lottery; 20,000l. paid for the Sloane Museum, 10,000l. for the Harleian Collection of MSS., and 10,250l. to the Earl of Halifax for Montague House in Bloomsbury-a mansion at that time perfectly well adapted for all the objects of the Museum. The collections increasing, new rooms were added to receive the Egyptian Antiquities obtained in 1801. A new British Museum (the present) was commenced in 1823, from the designs of Sir Robert Smirke; but the building is not yet finished. The government of the Museum is vested in trustees, and the chief Gifts and Bequests include the Cotton MSS.; a collection of Books, and the interest of 7000l., bequeathed by Major Edwardes; the Royal Library of the Kings of England; Garrick's Collection of Old Plays; Dr. Birch's Books and MSS.; Thomas Tyrwhitt's Books; Rev. C. Cracherode's Books, Prints, &c., valued at 40,000l.; Sir William Musgrave's Books, MSS., and Prints; Payne Knight's Books, Bronzes, and Drawings; Sir Joseph Banks's Books and Botanical Specimens; Library formed by George III.; and Mr. Grenville's Library. The Additional Purchases include Sir William Hamilton's Collection, 84007.; Townley Marbles, 28,2007.; Phigalian Marbles, 19,000l.; Elgin Marbles, 35,000l.; Dr. Burney's MSS.,1 3,500l.; Lansdowne MSS.,

49251.; Arundel MSS., 35597. The reader may purchase a synopsis of the contents of the Museum shown to the public, in the Hall, as you enter, price one shilling. This synopsis has been compiled under the direction of the trustees, and follows objects locally. In this work it has been thought better to classify the principal objects of interest.

The Egyptian Antiquities are in two rooms-one on the ground floor, called "The Egyptian Saloon;" the other upstairs, called "The Egyptian Room." The Saloon on the ground floor consists of the heavier objects, such as Sarcophagi, Columns, Statues, Tablets of the Dead, Sepulchral Urns, &c. This collection, the finest in Europe for colossal antiquities, comprises about 6000 objects. Observe. In the Egyptian Saloon, two Lions Couchant, in red granite, (1 and 34), "perfect models of Architectonic Sculpture."— Waagen. Colossal Head, 9 feet high, of Rameses II., but better known as the Young Memnon, found in the Memnonium at Thebes, by Belzoni, and deservedly regarded as the most celebrated monument of Egyptian art in any European collection. Colossal Head of a king wearing the pshent, discovered by Belzoni in Karnak. Statue in red granite of Menepthah II. Colossal Ram's Head. The chest of the Sarcophagus of the monarch Her-necht-hebi, (supposed to be either Amyrtæus or Nectabes,) of the Twenty-eighth Dynasty, found, according to the French, who first discovered it, in the court-yard of the Mosque of S. Athanasius, at Alexandria. Dr. Clarke, the traveller, fancied that this was the identical sarcophagus which once contained the body of Alexander the Great. Colossal Scarabæus. The Rosetta Stone, containing three inscriptions of the same import, namely, one in hieroglyphics, another in a written character called demotic or enchoreal, and a third in the Greek language. This celebrated stone furnished the late Dr. Young with the first clue towards the decyphering of the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. It was found (1799) by M. Bouchard, a French officer of engineers, in digging the foundation of a house, near the Rosetta mouth of the Nile, among the remains of an ancient temple dedicated by Pharaoh Necho to the god Necho, and came into the hands of the English by the sixteenth article of the capitulation of Alexandria, which required that all objects of art collected by the French Institute in Egypt should be delivered up to the English. The stone itself is a piece of black basalt, much mutilated, about 3 feet long, by 2 feet 5 inches broad, and from 10 to 12 inches thick, and contains a decree set up in the reign of Ptolemæus V. (Epiphanes,) probably about the year B.C. 196. The principal historical facts mentioned are the birth of the King B.C., 209; the