44 THE ROYAL INSTITUTION. [CHAP. I. 



bodies. In 1797, when he had another paper in the 

 'Philosophical Transactions' on this subject, he added 

 this note : 



Since writing the above I have met with a misfortune 

 which has put it out of my power to fulfil this promise. 

 On my return to England from Germany, in October 1795, 

 after an absence of eleven years, I was stopped in my post- 

 chaise in St. Paul's Churchyard, in London, at six o'clock 

 in the evening, and robbed of a trunk which was behind 

 my carriage, containing all my private papers and my 

 original notes and observations on philosophical subjects. 

 By this cruel robbery I have been deprived of the fruits of 

 the labours of my whole life, and have lost all that I held 

 most valuable. This most severe blow has left an impres- 

 sion on my mind which I feel that nothing will ever be able 

 entirely to remove. It is the more painful to me, as it has 

 clouded my mind with suspicions that never can be cleared 

 up. 



These essays were published at different times sepa- 

 rately between 1796 and 1802. The two first volumes 

 were reprinted in 1800. 



His first essay gave an account of an establishment 

 for the poor in Munich ; the second was on establish- 

 ments for the poor in general. It contains the germ 

 of the Royal Institution. 



This was a ' proposal for forming in London by 

 private subscription an establishment for feeding the 

 poor and giving them useful employment, and also 

 for furnishing food at a cheap rate to others who 

 may stand in need of such assistance, connected 

 with an institution for introducing and bringing 

 forward into general use new inventions and improve- 

 ments, particularly such as relate to the manage- 



