130 PROCEEDINGS OF PROVINCIAL SOCIETIES; 



prejudices, if not opposition, which, for a time, materially impeded 

 its progress, and had well nigh stifled it in its birth. But there is 

 every reason to believe that it will now maintain its ground, and 

 insure that patronage and encouragement it so well deserves from 

 all parties. The management of this Institution is vested in a com- 

 mittee of twenty persons, one half honorary members, and the other 

 half members belonging to the working classes; and the object is 

 to instruct the latter in the principles of the arts they practice, and 

 in other branches of useful knowledge : all party politics and con- 

 troversial theology being strictly prohibited. 



The committee of managers examine the candidates for admission, 

 and they allow no individual to become a member that " does not, at 

 the least, bear a good, steady, sober, moral character ;" and each 

 member, on being enrolled, is required to sign a declaration, so- 

 lemnly avowing that he " believes in the principles of Christianity." 



Exclusive of its official managers, the Institution consists of nearly 

 one hundred members, with every appearance of an increase. A 

 house was engaged and fitted up for the society, early in 1835 ; but 

 it is already found to be on much too limited a scale for the accommo- 

 dation of the members, and the committee are taking measures for 

 procuring a building sufficiently large to admit of reading, class, 

 and lecture rooms, on a considerably larger scale. Only two lec- 

 tures have hitherto been delivered : one by Dr. Lardner, in Decem- 

 ber, on Steam, chiefly with reference to its locomotive powers ; and 

 another by the Rev. Edward Stanley, rector of Alderley, one of 

 the vice-presidents, in the latter end of January, on Geology and 

 Fossil Natural History. Both lectures excited considerable inte- 

 rest, and were very respectably attended. A professional lecturer 

 has since been engaged to give a regular course on chemistry, and 

 various other subjects connected with art and science. The atten- 

 tion of the members to their mental improvement may be collected 

 by the following enumeration of the numbers who have sought in- 

 struction : — arithmetic, 68 members ; grammar, 46 ; drawing, 41 ; 

 geography, 12; chemistry, 11. Many of the members attending 

 two, three, or more, of the above classes. The individuals who have 

 thus, with so much credit to themselves, devoted their leisure hours 

 to the cultivation of their minds, instead of giving themselves up to 

 the degrading pursuits which vice and sensual indulgences hold out, 

 are entitled to the highest commendation ; and the advantages they 

 are deriving from this excellent establishment — in the formation of 

 which they were in a great degree instrumental — will no doubt 

 induce many others to follow their example. — Both in Macclesfield 

 and Chester, Temperance Societies have been established, with 

 equal success and benefit. We allude to this point for the pui*pose 

 of throwing out a hint as to the mutual advantages these societies 

 would, in all places, derive by co-operative union. The objects of 

 both may be said to be similar — reformation implying improvement, 

 and improvement reformation. By a community of interests, the 

 funds of each might be rendered more extensively useful. Tempe- 



