The want of a central point for intercommunica- 

 tion among studious persons, and of a library in 

 which books, not the mere current literature, but 

 the works of the great authors of by-gone times, or 

 those which contain the materials which the student 

 ought ever to have at hand, was less felt in Bath 

 than in many other places, in consequence of the 

 roomSj the clubs, and the booksellers' libraries. The 

 latter were at once places of resort and places where 

 books were to be found of a very different character 

 from those which form the circulating libraries of 

 the watering-places in general. 



Still Bath was very far from being what it ought to 

 have been in both these respects : and many must 

 have been the persons who, from year to year, felt 

 the want of both. If I may be allowed to speak of 

 myself, I can remember the time when I have tra- 

 velled to Bristol for the sole purpose of consulting 

 books which were in the public library of that city. 

 Copies of those very books are now in the Institution 

 library, accessible to any one who can make a pro- 

 fitable use of them. 



b2 



