LECTURE. 



I HAVE been honoured, by the request of the Managers, to lay before 

 YOU some General Views of the Plans that are in contemplation, for 

 the Support and Improvement of the Roval Institution, and for the 

 promotion of the general objects of science and utility, to which it 

 may be applied. 



These plans I am aware have been ably and comprehensively 

 discussed at the General Meetings of the Proprietors : but as there 

 may be some of the Body now present, who had it not in their power 

 to attend those meetings ; and as the Life and Annual Subscribers 

 who honour the establishment with their support, have as yet 

 received no information on the subject, the work that I am about to 

 undertake may not be unacceptable to a considerable part of my 

 audience ; — for I trust that a considerable part is interested in the 

 fate of the Royal Institution, its welfare, and its future prospects. 



I should feel very great hesitation in offering myself as an 

 advocate, on such an occasion, if I had not been honoured by nume- 

 rous opportunities of attending the Meetings of the joint Committee 

 of Managers, Visitors, and Proprietors of the Royal Institution, and 

 of listening to the opinions, and I hope imbibing the ideas, of some 

 of the most enlightened scientific men, and of some of the most 

 liberal patrons of science in this country. — I shall endeavour to 

 communicate the information that I have been able to collect on the 

 subject ; but at the same time you must not consider what I shall 

 bring forward as an official declaration. I trust I shall make no 

 considerable mistakes in developing the great principles to be 

 pursued, and the outline of the improvements to be adopted : the 

 general reflections that I shall venture to offer on the connections 

 and relations of the subject, may be very imperfect, and in some 

 instances incorrect ; for in these respects, I am obliged to trust to 

 my own feeble powers of discussion and illustration. 



Before I venture to speak of what the Royal Institution is, or 

 what it may be, I must endeavour to direct your attention to its 

 original design, to its progress, and to the modifications that it has 

 undergone. If in these historical details, I omit all reference to the 



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