PUBLIC LECTURES 108 



superiors. I would wish the members of the British 

 Association to mingle themselves with these artisans, 

 and in these perhaps overlooked corners of our great 

 cities ; for, as I talked with them, the feeling pre- 

 vailing in my mind was that of the intellectual 

 capacity in the humbler orders of population in 

 Manchester. This is a great truth, which I wish all 

 the members of this Association to bear away with 

 them, that while the institutions and customs of man 

 set up a barrier, and draw a great and harsh line 

 between man and man, the hand of the Almighty 

 stamps His finest impress upon the soul of many a 

 man who never rises beyond the ranks of compara- 

 tive poverty and obscurity. 



' Do not suppose for a moment that I am holding 

 any levelling doctrines. Far from it. I seek but 

 to consolidate the best institutions of society. But 

 I do wish that the barriers between man and man, 

 between rank and rank, should not be harsh, and high, 

 and thorny ; but rather that they should be a kind 

 of sunk fence, sufficient to draw lines of demarcation 

 between one and another, and yet such that the smile 

 of gladness and the voice of cheerfulness might pass 

 over, and be felt and heard on the other side.' 



It was more than twenty years, however, before 

 this channel of communication between the Associa- 

 tion and the public was formally opened. During 

 the earlier 'sixties, it is noticeable that the Association 

 was entering less widely into relations with govern- 

 ments and public bodies than it did before or sub- 

 sequently. As we find elsewhere (p. 226), this 

 particular form of public activity on the part of the 

 Association was almost confined, about that time, 

 to furthering the development of scientific education. 



