On Diversions. 107 



some very varied information mixed with essays on subjects 

 that in our time would seem better suited to a school for 

 the young ; but society was consolidating itself. Education 

 was in an earlier stage, and the demands were simpler than 

 now ; old ideas had in many cases been forgotten for want 

 of institutions in which to embody them : they lay en- 

 tombed in books for want of a new body in which to rise ; 

 whilst new ones came fresh into the world and began to 

 receive that encouragement for which wise men and philan- 

 thropists had waited in vain in former times. On careful 

 consideration it will appear that such essays were required 

 at the time, and their translation into continental languages 

 with their general reception is a guarantee that they 

 showed an advance on the age, notwithstanding what may 

 have previously existed in more recondite volumes. 



Dr. Mainwaring. 



Dr. Peter Mainwaring is mentioned as one of the first 

 presidents of the Society. He is also called an eminent 

 physician and a magistrate of the town. He presented to 

 the Royal Infirmary a small collection of books and a 

 bookcase, forming the nucleus of the present library (Man- 

 chester Historical Recorder). He lived in King Street. 

 He died in the ninety-first year of his age in 1785. (Har- 

 rop's Manchester Mercury) 



Dr. George Bell. 



When Dr. Charles Bell, a nephew of the famous Sir 

 Charles Bell, M.D. Edin., came in 1847 to reside in Man- 

 chester, he supposed Dr. Geo. Bell to be one of the family ; 

 but Dr. Geo. came from Dumfriesshire. (See Currie's account 

 in Mem., vol. ii., p. 382.) He died young. He deserves a 

 longer notice. 



