OF FORMER TIMES, 



Is, I am compelled by want of time to postpone it till our next lecture, 

 when I shall return to the subject, and carry it forward as the period will 

 allow. 



I shall only further observe, that, on the first reviviscence of literature, 

 it was chiefly limited to classical and philosophical subjects, and confined 

 to the courts of princes, or the walls of universities, which were now es- 

 tablished in almost every state of Europe ; the classical or ornamental 

 branches being mostly cultivated in the courts, and the speculative or phi- 

 losophical in the schools. And such, with little variation, continued to 

 be the course of learning, till the appearance of that great luminary in the 

 hemisphere of letters to whom I have just adverted. iNo sooner, however- 

 had the writings of Bacon and of other characters of a similar compre- 

 hensiveness of mind, who co-operated in his views, become diffused, than 

 institutions of another class were found wanting : — a something that might 

 fill up the space between the cloistered scholar and the irrecondite citi- 

 zen ; the dry principles of speculative science, and the living practice of 

 the artist and the mechanic. And hence, academies and societies for na- 

 tural knowledge became organized and incorporated — museums were 

 founded— taste, ingenuity, and invention commenced a happy intercourse 

 — the general results of their communications were, for the most part, pe- 

 riodically published, and the great mass of mankind Ijecame more gene- 

 rally enlightened than in any former period of the world. 



But a mode of acquiring a familiar and systematic initiation into the 

 general circle of the arts and sciences, was still felt desirable for the body 

 of the people ; a sort of rudimental education, by wliich they might be 

 able to assist and appropriate the knowledge that was flowing around them 

 in every direction ; that might call forth their own energies and resources, 

 and reflect with increased lustre the light in which they were walking. 

 And hence have arisen these scientific schools which are now commonly 

 known by the name of Institutions ; and especially, if I mistake not, the 

 school J have the honour of addressing. 



An establishment of this kind, to be perfect, should be possessed of a 

 library adequate to every inquiry — a laboratory and a museum of equal 

 extent, and a course of instruction commensurate with the whole circle 

 of the sciences. Such an establishment, however, is not to be expected ; 

 and especially in our own country, where the government is seldom soli- 

 1 cited for' assistance, and the sole endowment results from the joint pa- 

 tronage and contribution of individuals. All that remains for us, there- 

 fore, is to make the best use of the means that are in our power, and to 

 I carry them to the utmost extent they will reach ; and I can honestly con- 

 i gratulate the members of the Institution before me, v/ith having, in this 

 ! respect, conscientiously acted up to the fullest limits of their duty, and of 

 having rather set an example than followed one ; for it is a matter of no- 

 toriety to the world at large, that there is no other Institution in which the 

 fiame measure of income has been extended to the same measure of ac- 

 quiring knowledge, whether by books or by lecture?;. 



