LITERARY NOTICES. No. V. 



THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE PLYMOUTH 

 INSTITUTION. * 



EVERY man in Plymouth, whose means admit, 

 ought to have this book in his library every one who 

 feels an honest pride in knowing that intellect will 

 always rank higher than wealth , should patronize, as 

 far as possible, the first literary production of the 

 members of the Plymouth Institution. We have a 

 better opinion of the inhabitants of this town than 

 some would lead us to entertain : we do not believe 

 that the summum bonum of their hopes, and the end 

 of all their actions are to acquire a certain portion of 

 money in a given quantum of time we do not believe 

 that their studies are confined to the multiplication 

 table far from it : such institutions as the Athenaeum, 

 Public Library, Mechanics' Institution, &c., would 

 lead us to form an opinion of our townsmen totally the 

 reverse. 



Why, then, have they not bought a greater number 

 of copies of this work? we are at a loss for an answer 

 ourselves ; perhaps some good natured correspondent 

 could favor us with one. We know that very many of 

 our townspeople can frequently afford 1 11s. 6d. for 

 three volumes of novels, and that a still greater number 

 can afford to pay to our worthy friend, Mrs. Bulley, 

 a guinea every year for permission to peruse her stock 

 of romance. The price of " The Transactions" is only 

 15s., and, besides containing as much matter as, upon 

 the average, is found in a novel of three volumes, it is 

 illustrated by many beautiful engravings. 



Perhaps some persons, whose means do admit, will 

 not purchase the work because they suppose it to be 

 dry and uninteresting. We can confidently assert that 

 it is only dry inasmuch as it does not contain any of 

 that stimulating stuff so frequently found in works of 



* "Transactions of the Plymouth Institution." Baldwin and 

 Cradock, London; Rowe, Plymouth. Crown 8vo., pp. 360. 



VOL. in. 1834. B 



