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paratively contracted scale. For their proper manage- 

 ment the attention of the proprietors and subscribers 

 should extend to something beyond the newspaper- 

 room. They have an important duty to perform; each 

 should take an interest in preserving them OPEN in all 

 their proceedings, as from neglect in this particular 

 many abuses may arise ; for instance, the entire direction 

 andcontroul of a great establishment " MAY "jail int 

 the hands of two or three individuals. It then may 

 prove matter of serious inconvenience to any man of a 

 profession to take the least step under their advice and 

 assistance : their opinion may be to him not the best 

 rule of conduct, on account both of their power and their 

 uncertainty : for if he should happen to gratify them in 

 their humour one day, that very gratification may become 

 the ground of their dissatisfaction on the next. The 

 proprietors and subscribers, ceasing then to be patrons 

 of science, may be rendered innocently enough, supporters 

 of a monopoly ! From such neglect various other abuses 

 MAY arise, as, for instance, exhaustion of the funds; 

 when a plea of poverty may serve both as a perpetual 

 bar to the admission of talent, and as a specious reason 

 for supporting exclusively in office two or three persons 

 who MAY thrive upon the very embarrassments of the es- 

 tablishment ! which cannot well happen when their pro- 

 ceedings are public ! Besides, according to an old law 

 maxim, where mystery begins Justice ends. Impediments 

 may be thrown in the paths of science : power concen- 

 trated may be "privately" exercised to the injury of 

 many deserving men ; may imperceptibly influence 

 public opinion ; may in fact be employed in the suppres- 

 sion, not the promotion of merit. 



The votaries of science have long laboured for the 

 benefit of mankind, without any adequate reward ; it 

 should be the business of these institutions to attend to 

 and meet their reasonable complaints. Patronage should 

 descend impartially to their assistance and protection ; 



