46 THE KOYAL INSTITUTION. [CHAP. I. 



The object of this Society was everything that con- 

 cerned the happiness of the poor, everything by which 

 their comforts could be increased ; to correct the abuses 

 of workhouses ; to assist the poor in placing out their 

 children; to add to and meliorate their means of 

 subsistence by public kitchens, by the union of liberal 

 and benevolent minds, by circulating information and 

 by personal assistance and influence. 



The Bishop of Durham and Mr. Thomas Bernard 

 were the chief contributors to the funds. Mr. 

 Bernard was the third son of Sir Francis Bernard, 

 Governor of New Jersey and Massachusetts Bay. He 

 was a graduate of Harvard College, New England. He 

 was the original promoter of the School for the Indigent 

 Blind, of an Institution for the Protection and Instruc- 

 tion of Climbing Boys, of a Society for the Belief of 

 Poor Neighbours in Distress, of the Cancer Institution, 

 of the London Fever Hospital. He was also the founder 

 of the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts 

 in the United Kingdom, and the originator of the Alfred 

 Club. 



The first meeting of the new Society was held on 

 December 21, 1796, when the King declared himself 

 the patron of it. On February 24, 1797, the Society 

 resolved that, ' in consideration of the extraordinary 

 services of Count Eumford for the benefit of the poor, 

 and as a testimony, of the respect and esteem with 

 which this Society regards his services in the promotion 

 of the general objects of the institution, he be elected 

 and declared a member of the Society and one of the 

 general committee for life.' 



