INTRODUCTION. 
xx 
Sovereigns individually, and of the Legislature 
collectively, towards establishing and extending 
this national Institution, which will, no doubt, 
be allowed to reflect great honour upon the 
country at large, and from which men of letters, 
artists, and even mechanics of all descriptions, 
have derived, and continue to derive, most 
essential advantages in their respective pursuits. 
Our next duty is briefly to state what the 
Trustees, in their corporate capacity, have 
effected towards the further increase of the esta¬ 
blishment committed to their care. If in re¬ 
cording their various acquisitions, we have not 
objects of such magnitude to notice as those 
above specified, yet some, it will be allowed, are 
by no means of trivial import: and it must more¬ 
over be observed, that not only the fund at their 
disposal for these purposes is very limited, but 
that a great part of it is necessarily expended 
from time to time in the purchase of single 
books, and other separate articles, which occa¬ 
sionally present themselves for sale, and which, 
however important, are yet far too numerous to 
be here specifically described. 
It might well be expected, that in consequence 
of the great progress made of late years in the 
science of Natural History, the collection of Sir 
Hans 
