17 



manifested with the efforts of those in office, and the unvarying 

 kindness with which they had yielded all needful help to them in 

 carrying out their duties ; and he was sure they would stand by 

 him in his effort to fulfil those duties. He had also been long 

 enough among them to know how thoroughly he could rely on 

 the indefatigable help of their esteemed Secretaries— a host in 

 themselves! Would that their good friend, Mr. Wonfor, was 

 entirely restored to his wonted health and vigour. But even 

 this would, he trusted, prove true at no distant period, and that 

 they would still have his cheery voice and quick wit animating 

 them, and his valuable remarks instructing them in their meetings 

 as they had so often done in times past. 



If he might make two or three personal remarks he would 

 venture to say that it was no new thing for him to be associated 

 with those who were seeking by patient enquiry to obtain 

 increased knowledge and elevate the mind. 



If they would not smile at him for going back so far into the 

 past, he would say that as long as thirty-eight years ago he was 

 connected with a band of young men, meeting every week for 

 mutual improvement in the offices, and under the presidency of 

 one of the ablest solicitors of the town — the late Mr. WilUam 

 Penfold — at which they had each, in rotation, to read an essay. 

 It might interest them to hear that one of that little band of 

 students was Mr. Abbey, the now Mayor of the town, and that 

 he had the pleasure at that time of hearing him read a very- 

 interesting paper on the steam-engine. 



His pathway soon afterwards was across the ocean to North 

 America, and five of the most active years of his hfe were spent in 

 the United States with plentiful opportunities of observing the 

 natural phenomena of that grand country, with all its busy hfe, 

 its quick perceptions, and its noble aims. Splendid courses of 

 lectures on physiolog)- and other scientific subjects were being 

 delivered in New York during his two years' residence in that 



