162 THE EARLY HISTOKY OF [CHAP. III. 



I received in Edinburgli during my stay there. The 

 public honours that were conferred on me by the corpora- 

 tion of the city and by the University were highly gratify- 

 ing to me ; but nothing affected me so deeply as the 

 deference which was paid to my opinions and advice on 

 subjects of public utility by men in the highest stations 

 and of the most respectable character and abilities, and 

 the liberality, zeal, and perseverance with which the 

 measures I took the liberty to recommend were adopted 

 and pursued. 



May the important undertaking in which the inhabitants 

 of Edinburgh are now engaged the prevention of that 

 most disgusting and disgraceful of public evils, mendicity 

 and the formation of a permanent establishment for the 

 instruction and employment of the poor be completely suc- 

 cessful, and may it serve as a model for imitation to every 

 city and every town in Great Britain and Ireland. 



To the Rev. Greorge Baird, Principal of the 

 University of Edinburgh, he wrote from the Royal 

 Institution, March 21, 1801, thanking him for the 

 honour which the Society in Scotland for Bettering 

 the Condition and Improving the Comfort of the 

 *Poor had conferred on him by electing him a 

 member. 



During the 'autumn Webster wrote to Dr. Grarnett 

 to ask if he would help him to become his assistant. 

 He wished this place in order to make himself a better 

 teacher of operatives, and to have employment when 

 the additional buildings were finished. Dr. Grarnett, 

 in his reply, says ' an operator's time ought to be 

 dedicated to natural philosophy.' ' Nevertheless,' he 

 said, ' the School of Mechanics might perhaps be 

 carried on by the operator.' In Webster's answer to 



