quarterlies were boarded—not technically but
literally; for each was strung to a wooden
board, from which the reader was requested
in no wise to remove it. Regular visitors
were accustomed to observe a constant
work of improvement going on in those
rooms. The number of periodicals and papers
increased—from French and German journals
we got on to Spanish—new means of
establishing order and providing a place for
everything (so that any journal might at once
be found) were always being brought into
play. The conductor of that room never
was satisfied that he had brought it to
perfection. It filled well, and attracted
many foreigners. At the little wicket the
foreigner was courteously told in French,
Italian, or German that he had to pay a
penny on entrance.

Suddenly one day this well-ordered room
fell into confusion. Although it had given no
previous signs of decline or fall, it was
manifestly suffering the throes of dissolution.
Presently it died out. But it died in Oxford
Street only to be resuscitated in Holborn, in
a spacious and well-appointed saloon behind
a tailor's shop. The shop in Oxford Street
became devoted to pure stationery, and a dash
of the tailoring business was thrown into the
News Room for a change. Whether we are to
regard the tailor as the grand promoter of the
undertaking, or the lessee of the premises who
reserves a privilege of advertising himself
freely among the news-readers, we do not
know. We are not bound to acknowledge
any impertinent suggestions of a
connection existing between penny news and
guinea trousers. The News Rooms behind
the tailor's shop are large, commodious, and
well supplied. The grand step made by the old
News Room in the course of its resuscitation
was the introduction of the practice of filing a
large number of the journals, both metropolitan
and provincial. A certain amount of
success or capital is necessary before the
proprietor of a News Room can file the journals
he receives instead of selling them. A body
of filed papers will, however, be found in the
end to form the most substantial basis of
profit for any establishment of' this kind. It
should be a place supplied with ample means
of reference as well as of daily current
information. So far, therefore, the resuscitated
News Room is improved. It is improved also
in breadth of house-room. The papers, British
and foreign, are also, we believe, not less
liberally supplied than under the old regime.
With more space, however, has come less
scrupulous attention to the necessity of neatness
and order, and a busy visitor may by
chance waste ten minutes in the endeavour to
find any particular journal that he may wish
to see among the confused mass of papers on
the table. We are certain, however, that if
the business has not changed hands, this
objection will soon vanish.

In all these rooms, except perhaps the
smallest, there are provided Directories,
Court Guides, Railway Guides, maps of London,
Law Lists, and other books of common
reference. In the case of such books, it is
convenient for every one to know where they
can at any time be seen. In most of the
rooms—we have already instanced one—
letters are taken in for strangers or
subscribers. In all of them letters can be written.
There should be also, as in the Strand
establishment, lavatories and other accommodation
for the pedestrian in London streets.
There are half a dozen little wants, the
ministering to which can very fairly be made
part of the machinery of the Penny News
Room.

Penny News Rooms prosper very well in
our northern towns, and there is no reason
why they should not abound in London.
Peel's Coffee-house in Fleet Street, Deacon's
in Walbrook, and the Chapter Coffee-house,
have become famous as coffee-houses for the
files of papers that they keep. They have
supplied admirably in their way, but still
inadequately, a part of the great want which
is now forcing the Penny News Rooms into
existence. When we first broached the
subject, we referred to the example more
especially of Paris; and any reader who refers
to what we then said,* will find that we
have hitherto been by no means too bold
in our ventures. While we are timidly
grafting news upon philology, photography,
or tailoring, in Paris the Salons de lecture
exist of the highest character. Abundance
of French, English, German, Italian, Dutch,
Spanish, and American newspapers; reviews,
magazines, and other periodicals; globes,
atlases, and maps; a handsomely-bound
collection of classical and popular literature;
spacious windows letting in a flood of light
by day, and shaded and chastened gas-lights
for use in the evening; embossed maps on
the walls and writing conveniences on the
tables; green velvet sofas and divans; large
mirrors and elegant decorations—all available
at a charge of four sous or twopence per
day. As we then also stated, there are no
less than four hundred of these reading-
rooms in Paris; and if the reader should feel
no desire for the luxuries of velvet and
mirrors, he could find abundance of establishments
to which the rate of admission is two
sous or one penny.
* Household Words. Vol. iii. p. 8I.

Heartily wishing prosperity to those who
have established, or may hereafter establish,
well-conducted Penny News Rooms, we turn
now to an allied subject of still greater interest
and importance. An attempt is being made
in Westminster to set on foot, under the
shadow of the Abbey, Reading and Refreshment
Rooms for working people. Penny
News Rooms are frequented by all classes:
but chiefly by those who are comparatively
well to do. The introduction of refreshments