place,- and it is, perhaps, not unfair to pre- 

 sume, from the acknowledged talent of many 

 of the members of the society, that by their not 

 being published, the town was deprived of a jus- 

 tifiable opportunity of asserting and establishing 

 its claim to literary reputation. Out of gra- 

 titude to Dr. Moyes, for his valuable aid in 

 promoting the objects of the Institution of 

 which he might be considered the founder its 

 members elected him their first president; and 

 on the 7th August, 1792, they passed a resolu- 

 tion that he should be requested to sit for his 

 picture, and that the artist should be paid out of 

 the funds of the society. The portrait was ac- 

 cordingly taken by the late John Russell, R. A., 

 and on the dissolution of the society it was pre- 

 sented to the Subscription Library, where it is 

 now preserved. Among the rules of the society 

 were two which could not fail to hasten its dis- 

 solution ; one of them providing that, after the 

 discussion of each question, the opinion of the 

 majority of the members present should be an- 

 nexed to the question ; and another, requiring 

 that each member should, in turn, produce a 

 paper for discussion. The first secretary of the 

 society was the late John Wray, Esq., who was 

 succeeded in that office by the late Andrew Hol- 

 lingworth, Esq. 



In 1801, soon after the opening of the room in 



