COUNCIL FOR 1838 . 
11 
assured by ample proof that the public favour will fully sup¬ 
port this Institution, so long as it pursues steadily the path 
of public usefulness, and embraces every proper occasion of 
improving taste, augmenting science, and diffusing popular 
information, deem the increase of the general debt of small 
importance, compared to the objects sought for and gained. 
The Council lay down the trust which has been committed 
to them, in full hope and confidence that the members at large 
will approve their exertions, and give such commands to their 
successors as, without encouraging lavish expenditure in any 
department, shall empower them to remedy defects in some, 
advance them all nearer to perfection, and prosecute with 
vigour and success every well-considered measure for extend¬ 
ing the field of human knowledge, or enlarging the sum of 
rational and scientific enjoyment. 
