326 STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



by no means unfavourable to the prosecution of in- 

 tellectual studies. This is apparent, not only in the 

 higher and more educated classes of Manchester, 

 but is very general through the operative class of 

 the community. We were particularly struck one 

 day during our visit, at seeing two or three indi- 

 viduals of the latter description attentively looking 

 at some of the specimens in the museum, and com- 

 paring them with others brought for the purpose. 

 The superior tone and manners of these humble 

 admirers of nature are very striking, and at once 

 show the effect of such tastes upon the inward 

 man. 



(230.) The opulent town of Liverpool, supposed by 

 some to be superior in a commercial view, can bear 

 no comparison with its neighbour in those intellec- 

 tual pursuits of which we are speaking. There is, 

 indeed, a Royal Institution, the schools of which, we 

 have heard, are well conducted. We were encou- 

 raged, some years ago, to devote much time and trou- 

 ble in the formation of a museum attached to this 

 building ; but, with the death of that illustrious 

 historian to whose exertions and influence this town 

 is chiefly indebted for its public institutions, ex- 

 pired that zeal for following up what had been so 

 well begun. The museum has remained nearly in 

 the same state, and, although admired, has not been 

 adequately supported ; while the taste for natural 

 history, once very prevalent, has almost expired with 

 the death of some, and the departure of others, 

 whose intellectual superiority shed a lustre on 

 the town of Liverpool. We admit, indeed, that in 

 such a place, where almost every one is either en- 



