80 On the Institution of Literary 
rature, philosophy, or the fine arts, such as are 
adapted to the occasion, and interesting without be- 
ing abstruse: and will frequently be seen, perhaps 
unconsciously, to fix attention and communicate 
pleasure, while the neglected card-table stands va- 
cant or is pushed aside. Even the noisy and the dis- 
sipated, when in company with such men, will gra- 
dually be led, partly by a sense of shame, partly by 
a desire of rendering themselves agreeable, partly by 
the influence of example, to adopt habits and senti- 
ments better than their own. They will cease to’ 
confine their discourse to the tale of scandal of the 
hour, the adventures of a fox-chase, the history of a 
dinner, the determination of a gaming-bet; and to 
publish their own shame and their own guilt by de- 
tailing their feats of riot and intemperance. Folly 
will learn some degree of caution, and silence will 
appear the only refuge of vice. 
Such are the advantages derived to individuals 
from the institutions which form the subject of the 
present enquiry. Other benefits which flow from 
them relate to the general interests of literature and 
science. That benefits of the latter description may 
reasonably be expected to follow, is a truth which the 
observations already made will unavoidably have 
suggested. For when a number of persons, ante- 
cedently addicted to literary or philosophical inves- 
tigations, are stimulated, by the accession of some 
new motive, to additional industry in their several 
