60 



sought for, betrayed, it may be thought, a little 

 want of judgment in its ingenious author, arising, 

 unquestionably, out of sanguine feelings in favor 

 of his plan, the. failure of which was ascribed by 

 him, perhaps unjustly, to the apathy of those to 

 whom it was submitted : " So cold and iridif- 

 " ferent," says he, " were all the higher ranks 

 " who were addressed on that subject, that I had 

 " no small occasion for the good opinion of my 

 " literary friends, to moderate the effects of the 

 " mortification I was made to feel/'* This dis- 

 appointment, which Dr. Alderson felt so severely, 

 did not, however, abate his zeal in the cause 

 which he had so long and so ardently cherished ; 

 for, at the general meeting of the subscribers to 

 the Library, in 1804, he brought forward a 

 detailed plan for instituting, in the Library- 

 room, a succession of Lectures, in each year, 

 on such subjects as might be most usefully ap- 

 plied to the commercial and agricultural interests 

 of the town and neighbourhood. The address 

 delivered by him, on making the proposal, was 

 printed at the request of the meeting, and the sum 

 of 50. was directed to be appropriated out of the 

 funds of the society, in aid of the undertaking. 

 To the adoption of this plan the inhabitants of the 



* " An Address to the Members of the Hull Subscription Library, on 

 " the proposition for the Institution of Annual Lectures, delivered at the 

 " General Meeting, December 5, 1804," p. 7. 



