12 THE BATH INSTITUTION. 



the vaults under tlie rooms, and the profits of any 

 courses of lectures which might happen to be suc- 

 cessful. 



Some friends of the project were not so sanguine 

 as to believe that 400 proprietary shares would be 

 taken ; and yet that number was requisite to raise the 

 capital of 8400Z. But, while past experience had 

 led them to doubt whether so many persons would 

 be found as were required to take up 400 shares, 

 yet it was thought that if half the number were 

 taken in the first instance, the work might then be 

 begun, and that a sale, slow but certain, might be 

 expected of the remaining shares, which would serve 

 to increase the annual income, and therefore the 

 means of making the Institution more attractive. 



It was now resolved that this should be the scheme 

 which the friends of the Institution should lay before 

 the public ; and that if only 200 shares were taken 

 the business should be commenced and the experi- 

 ment made. This resolution may be regarded as the 

 actual beginning of the present Institution. 



Early in 1823 the number of persons in Bath and 

 its immediate vicinity who enrolled themselves as 

 proprietary members of the Institution on these 

 terms was about one hundred and thirty. Some 

 addition was made by noblemen and gentlemen 

 residing at a distance. Sir John Cox Hippesley at 



