42 O.Lp PusBLic LIBRARIES IN DUMFRIES. 
subscription was 10s, and the librarian was James M‘Robert. At 
the latter date (1851) they had 1400 volumes in their possession, 
a considerable reduction on the former estimate, you will notice. 
1811.—In the “ Courier ’”’ for September 24, 1811, appeared 
an advertisement inviting proposals of members for the Subscrip- 
tion Reading Room. 
1819.—This is the earliest date I can find upon a book be- 
longing to the Dumfries Law Library. It occurs in an inscription 
on a copy of Stair’s “ Institutes, 1681,’’ and states that the book 
was presented by Christopher Smyth in 1819. The collection of 
the “ Dictionary of Decisions ’’ dates from 1811, so it is possible 
the library may have existed earlier than 1819. Many of the 
books are dated 1852. In 1865 the Faculty of Procurators of 
Dumfriesshire was constituted and the Library properly taken care 
of. It is now a collection of 500 or 600 volumes, almost entirely 
law books. About this date also must have existed the Dumfries 
Medical Library, of which a few books are still in private hands in 
the town. The date of its origin and dispersal I have failed to 
find. 
1825.—The Mechanics’ Institute—A preliminary meeting to 
form this was held in the Trades’ Hall on Tuesday evening, March 
15, 1825, with Provost Thomson in the chair. On April 1 a meet- 
ing of subscribers was held, and office-bearers were appointed as 
follow :—President, Provost Thomson ; vice-president, Mr Thom- 
son, architect ; treasurer, Mr Barker, Bank of Scotland ; secretary, 
Mr Carson, writer ; with fourteen ordinary members of committee 
and four honorary members. 
The project was taken up with great avidity. On May 3rd 
John Staig (collector of customs) had presented them with £500, 
and William Taylor with £330. By May 23rd there was a mem- 
bership of 200. The books that had been presented were valued 
at over £70, and the library was opened in a room in the Academy 
set apart by the magistrates for that purpose. The original sub- 
scription was 8s, and 4s for children of members and apprentices. 
Lectures were regularly given and classes held on mechanics and 
science in the Assembly Rooms. 
Its fortunes were very varied. It appears to have possessed 
some 600 volumes in 1838, and an exhibition was held in the old 
Assembly Rooms in 1841 “to reduce,’’ says M‘Dowall, “the 
debt on the erection of the hall,’’ though it does not appear what 
