226 A Tribute to the Memory of 
his communication of the plan. “ An: at- 
tempt of this kind,” the late Dr. Currie of 
Liverpool observes, “‘ I think most. praise- 
worthy; and for this, however the matter 
may terminate, the projectors will always be 
entitled to public favour and esteem. It isa 
bold enterprize, and of eourse insome degree 
doubtful. One thing appears to me proba- 
ble ;—that if the business is taken up as it 
ought to be by the public, you will soon find 
the propriety of extending your plan, so as 
to make it embrace every object of general 
education.” Mr. Wedgwood, also, strongly 
expressed his approbation of the undertaking. 
«“ The plan of your College,’ he says, “TI 
think an excellent one, and from the popu- 
lous and commercial state of your, town— 
from the apparent utility of the Institution— 
from the elegance and propriety with which 
it is announced—and from the known cha- 
racters of the gentlemen who are engaged in 
it, I can scarcely entertain a doubt of its 
meeting with success.” Greater perseve- 
rance would, perhaps, have gradually soft- 
ened, and finally subdued, the prejudices that 
seem to have existed against the union of 
commercial with literary or philosophical pur- 
suits,—an union which, under proper regala- 
tion, adorns and dignifies the character of the 
