PROCEEDINGS OF PROVINCIAL SOCIETIES. 307 



We observe that Mr. Taylor is pursuing the inquiry on which he 

 has entered ; and that a second series of lectures, embracing the 

 period between the death of Purcell and the arrival of Handel in 

 England, will be delivered by him at the London Institution, in 

 February. 



BIRMINGHAM MECHANICS* INSTITUTION. 



The principal feature of novelty in the conduct of this Institu- 

 tion, during the past quarter, has been the opening of a news and 

 reading room, at the school buildings. The apartment so applied is 

 of moderate dimensions, well lighted and warmed, and presents an 

 air of comfort and good arrangement. The supply of newspapers, 

 of course, is limited by the means provided by the amount of sub- 

 scriptions ; but the probability is that the advantages derived from 

 the establishment will soon cause an increase in the number of sub- 

 scribers. The room is open every evening, from seven till ten 

 o'clock ; the greatest order and decorum are always manifest ; and 

 we have, at some of our visits, been pleased to see a game of chess 

 silently prosecuted in one corner of the room. 



The class studies proceed regularly and efficiently : the writing, 

 arithmetic, and mathematics, under the care of Mr. Daniel Wright, 

 whose judicious mixture of energy and kindness has given to these 

 schools an aspect of order and industrious occupation which are gra- 

 tifying to witness. In the drawing class, the services of Mr. 

 Wright have been assisted during the past year, by the gratuitous 

 attendance and very able tuition of a gentleman whose efforts to 

 raise the character of the school have been crowned with success. 

 The class for the French language, which had been previously at- 

 tended, gratuitously, by a member of the Institution, is now under 

 the superintendence of Mons. Martin, a professional instructor of 

 eminence, on terms creditable to the liberality of that gentleman. 

 The extra expense of this class is supported by an esetra subscription 

 on the part of its members ; and we are more and more convinced 

 that the same course ought to be pursued in respect of the other 

 classes. Education, like every thing else, may be offered too cheap- 

 ly, to the deterioration of the article ; and we think that very few 

 of the youth who embrace the advantages offered by a Mechanics' 

 Institution, would hesitate to pay a small subscription quarterly, for 

 admission into each class. These small subscriptions would, proba- 

 bly, cover the stipends of the instructors, and provide the classes re- 

 spectively with books, slates, drawing-patterns, &c., while the sums 

 now appropriated to these purposes, would be applicable to the libe- 

 ral increase of the already valuable librarv ; and to securing th« 



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