324 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



all those diviner powers which would have exalted them in the scale 

 of thinking beings, and would have stored their minds with choicer 

 treasures, and conferred upon them far higher happiness, than all 

 that riches or grandeur can bestow. I speak not here of that portion 

 of the humblest classes which is utterly devoid of education, with all 

 its refinements ; to them such enjoyments must necessarily be rare 

 indeed, being, in general, far beyond their reach. They, therefore, 

 indulge their appetites with avidity ; and, unless impelled by the 

 ennobling influence of pure religion, they seek no higher happiness. 

 A remedy for such defects has been attempted by establishing, for the 

 improvement and instruction of those whose situation in life has pre- 

 cluded them from the attainment of such advantages. Mechanics' In- 

 stitutes ; which, by a strict adherence to their object, under wise re- 

 gulation and judicious management, can hardly fail of accomplishing 

 their purpose, and conferring essential benefits upon an extensive 

 class of the community. But I am now speaking of men destined 

 for the higher and more independent walks of life, who are too often 

 led, by ignorance of their own possible attainments, to cultivate only 

 a small corner of the mental field, and to abandon, as an unprofitable 

 waste, " by far the most valuable portion of that intellectual inheri- 

 tance to which they were born." They thus lose all those expanded 

 views of Nature and Nature's charms which, to the eye of the unin- 

 structed, are wrapt in thickest darkness, but rise prominent and con- 

 spicuously beautiful to the view of him whose intellectual vision is 

 " purged of its film," and who, by the aid of physical science, discerns, 

 as it were, all the secret but perfect mechanism by which she pro- 

 duces such astonishing efl^ects. Such was the heightened charm im- 

 parted to that most splendidly beautiful object in the inanimate world 

 — the rainbow, by the new and clear comprehension of the Newtonian 

 theory of light and colours, so exquisitely described by the most phi- 

 losophical of poets, Akenside, as the result of his own personal 

 experience. 



From proofs, such as these, we may, therefore, fairly conclude, 

 that whatever tends to difliise these sun-beams of intellectual delight 

 over our existence as a town, is a blessing, an inestimable blessing. 

 And if such be the possible or rather probable effect of this Society 

 upon its members, and upon all who come within the sphere of its 

 influence, — if, by th*? endeavour to instruct others we improve our- 

 selves, — if, by an amicable collision of opinion, we sharpen intellect 

 or refine taste, — if we gain the valuable habit of contemplating, with 

 patient care, any interesting object presented to our observation, and 

 are enabled not only to view it in a philosophic light, but also to 

 pourtray it in clear and faithful colours, we shall thus have acquired 

 that which will give vigour to our conceptions, perspicuity to our 

 language, and throw over the whole of life a polished grace and inex- 

 pressible charm. For we thus learn insensibly to view the objects 

 whether of nature or art, with the eye of perfect intelligence, spon- 

 taneously though unconsciously, blending with what we see " all that 



