Oy 
sQ02 
on one fide, and credulity and love of 
wonder on the other; but as I traf 
encugh has been faid to prove that the 
foundation of the fyftem is falfe and ab- 
furd, it will not be neceffary to refute a 
pretended appeal to faé&t, the fcere of 
which les at a diftance, and which is evi- 
dently the narrative of a prejudiced ad- 
mirer. Joes 
———— 
Yo the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
HE want of focieties for fcientific 
and literary improvement hes been 
long felt in many confiderable tcwns in 
Sco:land, and I believe in none more than 
in Aberdeen. 
The utility of fuch inftitutions being fo 
generally acknowledged, it is truly a mat- 
ter of furprife to find fo few of them in 
this kingdcm, efpecially when the facility 
of forming them is confidered. Any at- 
tempt, however fmall, to promote the in- 
terefts of literature, and to diffufe moral, 
political, and philofophical knowledge, 
among men cf all ranks, will meet with 
the marked approbation cf the fincere 
well-wifber to his,country ; and I am per- 
fuaded you will receive peculiar fatisfac- 
tion in being able to communicate to the 
public the feebleft efforts which nray be at 
any time direSted to fo important and de- 
firable an chject. 
In Mr. Nicholfon’s Philofephieal Jour- 
nal for December la&, ‘* A Tiaveller” has 
exprefied his turprife to find no antiqua- 
tian or literary fociety, or fubfcription- 
liobvary, at Aberdeen ; and I agree with 
his remark, that thofe who know the re- 
fpe&tab lity of the place, cannot fail to be 
aftonifhed at it. To account for fo. fin- 
gular a fa& would perhaps be deemed 
prefumptuous. IT have tco much refpect 
for. my fellow-citizens to attribute it toa 
want of taite; but I cannot help blaming 
thofe amongtt us who are qualified for 
fupporting iuch infitutions, for their want 
of attention in this refpeét. The profet- 
fors of bsth univeriities certainly unite ia- 
lents with influence and reipectability. It 
were to be wifhed that. they and other li- 
terary charaéters in town had more con. 
cern for the improvement of the commu- 
nity at large, and would make fuitabie ef- 
forts to promote it. 
It would be doing injuftice ta the libe-- 
rality of the proprietors of the Atheneum 
and circulating-library, to deny thefe in- 
ftitutions their refpeétive merits and ad: 
vantages. But I apprehend that neither 
3 
’ 
New Literary Society at Aberdeen. 
[ May ]; 
of them is fufiicient to fupply the defidera- 
tum mentioned by Mr. Nicholfon’s corre- 
fpondent. The firft is principally caleu- 
Jaied for the commercial part of the inha- 
bitants, and thofe who have time to 
Jcunge: the fecond, although comprifing 
much ufeful reading, 1s fomewhat defec- 
tive in the feleion of the bocks, and af- 
fords little opportunity for the union of 
literary exertions. A fociety whofe books 
are the property-of the individual fubferi- 
bers, is far better adapted not only for ad 
vancing knowledge, and bringing ufeiul 
talen s into netice, but alfo for giving a fa- 
veurable biag.to the purfoits of ingenious 
young men of all defcriptions, to whom 
fuch a fociety is at all times acceflible, 
from the fmall .expence attending it. 
Pecple become more folidly concerned ia 
promoting the fuccefs of any f{cheme in 
proportion as their perfonal istere(ts are 
interwoven with it ; and we may therefore 
‘'leonclude that a man will take more reat 
pleaiure, and perhaps derive more profit, 
from reading a book which he confiders 
as his cwn property, than one only lent 
him fora time. 
Impreffed with thefe confiderations, a 
few perfons in Aberdeen inftituted a tub- 
fciiption library upon the 22d of Febru- 
ary, 1805, under the title of the Caledo- 
nian Literary Society, which has already 
increafed to upwards ef one hundred mem- 
bers, and which is daily augmenting in 
number and refpectability. Befides em- 
bracing all the periodical publications of 
merit in Great Britain, our ftock is e1- 
riched with a feleétion cf the moft ap- 
proved books, either prefented by the 
members, or purchaled from the fociety’s 
funds. 
It is worthy of rema:k, that the trifling 
fum of fix fhillings per annum is enly re- 
quired from each fubicriber to the Cale. 
donian Literary Society. . So inconhide- 
rable an expence, contrafted with the 
great variety of ufeful and entertaining 
knowledge 'o be derived from it, muft 
form a very powe:ful recommendation in 
its favour. Wehave been inforined with 
plealure that many perfons in Glafgow, 
who are not members of the fociety efta- 
lithed there, have contributed. liberally 
to its fupport, by giving books,—an ex- 
ample worthy of the imitation of others. 
Tt is alfo in contemplation to inftirute a 
philofophical: fociety, on a fimilar plan toe 
thofe in London, Edinburgh, &c., for the 
purpofe ot receiving occafional diflerta- 
trons on a variety of Jiterary and other fub- 
jects, to be depefited as the property, or 
entered 
