38 Dr. Barnes's Plan for the Improvement and 



objft — I muft give up books, knowledge — and 

 every thought but one, that of getting money ?'* 



And even admitting, that there were fome 

 competition, fuch as is aflerted, between litera- 

 ture and merchandize ; if the plan we are recom- 

 mending fhould in any degree interfere with an 

 unremitting and excelTive attachment to bufineis 

 -—is it nfCcffary that bufinefs fhall be followed 

 upon this flavirti and degrading plan, to the 

 cxclufion of every idea, but that of gain ? 

 Might not fomething be abated of this over- 

 plodding diligence, and yet the mind, even 

 granting fome diminution of fortune, be, upon 

 the whole, an unfpeakable gainer ? 



It would certainly be a high honour, as well 

 as an unfpeakable advantage, to this rifing and 

 opulent town, to have within itfelf an Inftitution 

 which would proclaim its tafte, as well as its 

 affluence. It would be a laudable ambition, to 

 afpire after a literary, in addition to that mer- 

 cantile reputation, by which it is already fo 

 greatly diftinguiflied. 



The SOCIETY to which I have now the honour 

 of addrefTing myfclf, has added no fmall degree 

 of refpedability, in the eyes of our fellow- 

 countrymen, and even of foreigners. They 

 have feen, with pleafure, a fet of Gentlemen rife 

 up, in the midfl; of a place devoted to commerce 

 as the friends of literary and philosophic 

 excellence. An inftitution, fuch as I am now 

 recommending, would ftrengthen that favourable 



imprcflion. 



