.^^^ ViiJ^, V.i8j^< IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ^ ^%^ ^ 1.0 1.1 ""1.25 ta m ^ U& 12.0 Hi I II 1.8 U 11.6 '■u ^^ «^ ^> >:^ Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MSSO (716) 872-4S03 %0 CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVI/ICIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Technical and Bibliographic Notns/Notas techniques et bibliooraphlque* The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur n~| Covers damaged/ D D D D \/ D Couverture endommagAe Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaurie et/ou pelliculie □ Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque I I Coloured maps/ D Cartes g6ographiques en couleur Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other material/ Relii avec d'autres documents Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La re liure serr6e peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge intArieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajouties lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, mais. lorsque cela 4tait possible, ces pages n'ont pas 6ti fiimies. Additional comments:/ Commentaires suppiimentaires; L'Institut a microfilmi la meilleur examplaire qu'il lui a iti possible da se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont paut-Atre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvant axiger une modification dans la mAthode normals de filmage sont indiquis ci-dessous. r~~| Coloured pages/ D Pages de couleur Pages damaged/ Pages endommagias Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restaurias at/ou palliculAes Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pagok. dieolories, tachatias ou piqu^es Pages detached/ Pages ditachies Showthrough/ Transparence Quality of print varies/ Quality inAgale da I'lmprassion Includes supplementary material/ Comprend du matirial suppl4mentaire Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been raf limed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totalement ou partiellament obscurcies par un fauillat d'errata, une pelure, etc., ont iti filmies A nouveau de fapon A obtenir la mailleure image possible. This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est filmA au taux de reduction indiquA ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 7 26X 30X 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X ails du tdifisr une nage Th« copy film«d h«r« has bMn raproducod thanks to tha ganarosity of: New Brunswick Muieum Saint John Tha imagas appaaring hara ara tha baat quality poaaibia eonaidaring tha condition and lagibiiity of tha original copy and in kaaping with tha filming contract apacificationa. Original coplaa in printad papar eovara ara fiimad baginning with tha front covar and anding on tha laat paga with a printad or iilustratad impraa- •ion. or tha back eovat whan appropriata. Ail othar original coplaa ara fiimad baginning on tha first paga with a printad or illuatratad impraa* slon, and anding on tha laat paga with a printad or illuatratad impraaaion. Tha laat racordad frama on aach microflcha shall contain tha symbol — »> (moaning "CON- TINUED"), or tha symbol y (moaning "END"), whichavar appliaa. IMapa. plataa, charts, ate, may ba fiimad at diffarant raduction ratioa. Thoaa too larga to ba antiraly includad in ona axpoaura ara fiimad baginning in tha uppar laft hand cornar, laft to right and top to bottom, aa many framaa aa raquirad. Tha following diagrama iiiuatrata tha mathod: L'axamplaira filmA fut raprodult grica i la gAniroaiti da: New Brunswick (Museum Saint John Laa imagaa auivantaa ont 4t* raproduitaa avac la piua grand soin, compta tanu da la condition at da la nattat* da l'axamplaira f limA, at an conformit* avac laa condltiona du contrat da flimaga. Laa axamplairaa origlnaux dont la couvartura an papiar aat ImprimAa sont filmis an comman9ant par la pramiar plat at an tarminant soit par la darnlAra paga qui comporta una amprainta d'impraaaion ou d'iliustration. soit par la sacond plat, salon la caa. Toua laa autraa axamplaircs origlnaux aont filmia an commandant par la pramlAra paga qui comporta una amprainta d'impraaaion ou d'illuatration at an tarminant par la damlAra paga qui comporta una talla amprainta. Un daa aymboiaa auivanta apparaftra sur la darnidra imaga da cliaqua microflcha, salon la caa: la symbols -^ signif la "A SUIVRE ', la aymbola ▼ signifia "FIN". Laa cartaa, planchas, tablaaux, ate, pauvant Atra fiimAa it dsa taux da rMuction diff Grants. Loraqua la documant aat trop grand pour Atra raprodult an un aaul ciichA, 11 aat filmA A partir da I'angla aup4riaur gaucha, da gaucha h droita, at da haut an baa, an pranant la nombra d'imagaa nicaaaaira. Las diagrammaa suivanta illuatrant la mithoda. urata o lelure, 1 A D 32X 1 2 3 4 1 5 6 4i ^^ "4. ^C Milneir HALIFAX. N.S. ■^ % >*<«« f - ntrnnt. in»r FREDIRICTON ATHENIUM, FEBRUARY 21, ia53. ,';?i>*'' PRINTED AT THE REQUEST OF THE SOCIETY. KREDERICTON. '^mm J. SlMfSOS, PRINTER TO THE qUKIJt'S MOjT tUVtULttlX MiJMTf. 1853. ■'^' m ^'S THE NEW BRUNSWICK MUSEUM •p ,5*3.^ «*i..„ ". *t; yy'jiyr f i pw ii -i c' , ! ! | i. ,v ... ii ' -.- n * a F 57^ ANNUAL DISCOURSE, DILITIRID BT EDWIN JACOB, D.D., PRESIDENT, BirOBI TBI FRBDIRICTON ATHINIUM FEBRUARY 21, 1853. PRINTED AT THE RE(IDEST OF THE SOCIETY. FBEDEBICTON. i 8IVPI0II, rRIHTBK TO TBI QUBU'S HOIT UCILLIMf MAJIITT. 1863. •r immi ' nI disc^ pr? tastj mei Sp« tio wel an] sic col ANNUAL DISCOURSE. The duty of your President on his last day of office has been so expressly assigned, that no excuse could be found for its omission or neglect. Each individual who may have been chosen to occupy this chair for twelve months, is bound to conclude the period with *' a discourse upon the proceedings of the past year." And this is one of the fundamental laws constituting the Society ; in which it was also enacted, that none of them should be rescinded or altered without certain formalities of a strictly conserva- tive description. A Presidential "Discourse" must therefore be pronounced, and that upon a definite subject — "the proceedings of the ])ast year." The discourser is neither to look back beyond his own year of office, nor forward in anticipation of the future, but to confine his view to the events which have transpired under his own immediate observation. * ' Nothing, it is true, has been prescribed as to the kind of discourse which the retiring President is required to present. Here he is left at liberty to consult his own taste or inclination. He may read or recite ; speak from memory or instantaneous conception ; be concise like a Spartan, or prolix as the grave and accurate Puritan, who is said to have approached the conclusion of his Introduc- tion vfkh " Sixty-serenthly, my beloved hearers — and then we ente/ on the main question ;" be plain and simple as any old chronicler, or reflective as Thucydides. impas- sioned as Tacitus, or insinuating as Gibbon; deal in common-place generalities, or insist on striking particulars ; be courtly or censorious — courtly as the historian, who gloriously paneg3'rize8 King Richard the Third as a ** model of all princely virtues;" or censorious as the ^^ I * politico-religious controversialist, who sets down Arch- bishop Tillotson for '* the gravest athei»t that ovor wus." Not to detain you however with tantalizing uppruhon- •ions, as to which of these methods I may have thought flt to adopt, I deem it most in character to present you with a discourse composed and delivered just like one of thoHO, which in earlier years I was accustomed to prepare for the pulpit ; — a discourse upon my text, consisting of iuch observations as may have seemed most natural, and deli- Tered as the thoughts and feelings entortainod would naturally find their utterance. My subject therefore being *' The proceedings of tho |mil year,*' I shall not occupy your time with grammatical, logical, or exegetical disquisitions; — as M. Conitont, in hii treatise " De la Religion,'' remarks, has been too nuich the habit of our English preachers ; but honestly review the actual occurrences, as I may be enabled to rocal them with the aid of our Secretary's brief but faithful minuteit with a few reflections which they may readily suggoit. And, first, I have to congratulate you on the fact that the Society has been " proceeding." If it has not made great progress, it has continued alive and in motion : it has not stood still ; it has not gone back ; but it hai made successive efibrts to attain the objects for which it wai formed. We have met together, with the oxceptionN pro- vided or customary, on the several months of the yt^ar ; and every time in suflicient number to " proceed to biiNineii." And if we have had to regret the loss or absence of dome of our members, we have been consoled by tho acceisioti or reappearance of others. Our meetings also have been remarkably barmonioui. So perfectly well conducted indeed have been oil your pro- ceedings, that your President's duty has been, if poiMible» too light and easy. Sometimes I could almost have wished for a jt "ing string or two, to break the monotony— iweet and agi «,«iable as it was — of uniformly decoroui language r. '. Arch- il wui. rulioii- |glit flt with IthOHO, |for tho iuoh deli- would nnd demeanour. If any thing appeared to me wanting, it WBB — I may be allowed candidly to confess — a fuller measure of frank social converse, to cherish glowing thoughts and kindling emotions, and encourage the most diffident to contribute to the common fund of information and improve- ment. One of the ablest speakers of the age, in his Discourse as Lord Rector bufore the University ofGlasgow, fairly warned his youthful audience, that they might find it by no means an easy attainment " to think" (as he empha- tically expressed it) " upon their legs;" aud I have more than once felt that some of our members may have been deterred from giving us the benefit of their remarks, by the tacitly admitted, though never established, rule of rising to make, what may have seemed to them, set and formal speeches. Of one of the occasions, perhaps I might say causes, of this formidable apprehension we have been relieved by the Resolution, considerately proposed by a reverend gentleman who has furnished abundant evidence that he at least had overcome the difficulty, abolishing the Votes of Thanks which had been previously moved and seconded at perhaps every meeting. But I am far from sure whether the substitution of another rule, authorising the President to call upon such members as he thinks pro- per, to open a discussion upon the papers read before the Society, may not have operated to much the same effect. Your President, it is true, may be presumed to consult the feelings of the several members ; but, judging by very limited experience, I should be disposed to say that the power thus held in terrorem over every pair of feet, heart and tongue, is rather too terrific to be committed to an unintuitive mortal. I know not indeed that we have any member so thoroughly dumbfounded, as an old captain whom I once heard declare, with reference to a public meeting, that he " would rather march twenty miles, than have to speak twenty words at such a place as that ;" but I can readily conceive how those who may not have had the practice, or be conscious of the ability, of a minister e trained in the school of John Knox, or a juriitt raised from successful pleading at the bar to the more chiiMto and dignified eloquence ofthe bench, might shrink from the task^-of speaking with almost no time to collect their thoughts, or labouring to think and speak together, before an attentive though kindly-tempered company, every mem- ber of which they must be aware cannot fail to notice their infirmity or confusion. But on this point I have only further to observe that, should my successors at any time unfortunately miscalculate the nervous or vocal powers of uny of our members, he may be allowed to copy the exumplo of a major-general, whose marching days wore past, while his speaking hours were never to come ; and who, when once compelled to rise in a far larger assembly, hud the courage to say, " As lam not prepared to offer any remark, I trust I have your permission to — resume my suut." Possibly some may think it more appropriate for mo to remind our junior associates of the method which Lord Brougham recommended at Glasgow, for acquiring the art of ready and copious eloquence. Judging by his own experience, he told his aspiring auditors, that the nioit effectual method would be found to consist in the liubit of writing much and frequently on all subjects ; mo storing the memory with words and phrases, sentences and para- graphs, ready to appear at call ; and, being put together, arranged, and suitably applied, to present the aspect of a speech composed on the occasion. This however, it should be remembered, was the experience of one great orator : I doubt if many of his compeers would give the same account of their means of success. More commonly, I rather believe, they would attribute it, as far as traceable to any causes beside the powers of natural genius, to the habit of thinking steadily and connectedly, and then utter- ing their thoughts with the manly confidence resulting from conscious ability. For surely the maxim of Horace must be as just, provided the verse would admit the substitution, if we read "Loqitendi" instead of— ''iS'rriAtfnt/i recte Sapere est et principium et foni, Verbaque provinam rem non inyita lequentur." That confidence might be encouraged by the reflection, that if slips and inaccuracies escape our lips, they may very probably escape the notice of other ears ; while the critical few will assure us, that they have long since learned to bear with equanimity far grosser violations of propriety of speech. In concluding this topic I beg leave therefore to acknowledge my hope, that greater freedom of discussion may hereafter follow the reading of papers at our meetings ; and that the provision in our laws for extempore observations or communications from any member on any suitable sub- ject, may find a greater proportion disposed to avail them- selves of its liberality. Of the papers which have been read during the succes- sive months, with addresses not previously committed to writing, it is impossible for me to speak in other terms than those of approving gratitude. Every meeting has been favoured with at least one such contribution ; and in every instance our expectations have been verified, in some more than fulfilled. My review must be very limited ; for the subjects were always of such a nature, and so treated by the readers or speakers, that I could not pretend to pay them the notice which they respectively deserve, in a general retrospect of the proceedings of the year. At our first meeting in March, our Secretary presented certain documents in connection with our endeavours to obtain for the commercial, as well as the scientific world, accurate statistics of the Tides and Currents of the Bay of Fundy. These endeavours, I ought to add, were warmly encouraged by His Excellency Sir Edmund Head, and most kindly noticed in a farewell letter from the late Sir John Harvey, which was received by me, I lament to say, just after the pen had for ever fallen from his hand. They have also been highly approved by the late Colonial Minister and Board of Admiralty ; and will, I trust, be eventually carried into complete success by Captains Bayfield and Shortland, the accomplished and zealous officers entrusted with the maritime survey of our coasts. Dr. Robb then delivered what I perceive him to have called in the minutes " a Verbal Lecture," but I should rather denominate it an intellectual outpouring, on what he termed "the Law of Limits." His object was *'to shew that all created existences are limited or circum- scribed within various powers and properties. To man these limits " might have often " seemed arbitrary, as to the Almighty in the first instance " they may be supposed to have been, '' that i? the results of his own free will. But without doubt they were all so adjusted and harmonized reciprocally " by the Creator " as to secure that wonderful adaptation" which we find to subsist " between the organic and inorganic worlds." I am not certain that we were all alike prepared to estimate the difiiculties which a Professor of Chemistry and Natural History might encounter, in his eflforts to form a just conception of the question ; but every one must have been satisfied that it was fairly discussed, and that the conci.:«ions accorded fully with the phenomena of nature, right reason, and devout reverence for the Supreme Being. At our April meeting Mr. Roberts read a very compre- hensive paper, illustrated, with Professor Jack's skilful assistance, by a variety of representations and experi- ments, entitled an "Analysis of the first principles of Music." It elicited many curious enquiries and acuto remarks, more particularly from Mr. Justice Wiimot ; and was, I believe, regarded by every one capable of forming a judgment on the subject, as a just account of the con- ditions of musical sound, with its combinations and vari- ations in concord and melody. In May, after some statements respecting the New Brunswick Almanac — such, I regret to add, as to justify, and even require the Society's suspension of the super- 9 vision which it had so usefully and creditably exercised, — the Rev. Charles Coster read a veell-digested dissertation on the " History of Assyria." Most of us probably had impressed upon our memory the honest narrative of Herodotus, so perfectly agreeing, as far as it goes (for the more precise details which the Father of JHistory intended to subjoin, were never written, or they have perished in the lapse of time,) with the facts recorded in the sacred records of the Jews. Some of us had been amused or scandalized at the romantic tales of Ctesias, the Greek physician of Artaxerxes (who Xenophon thought might be fairly entitled to credit for a fact which he stated concerning the person of hit patient), and his credulous copyists Diodorus and Trogus, concerning the long-enduring dynasty of the universal conqueror Ninus, and his celestial, dove- nourished, and finally translated queen Semiramis. And all had doubtless seen the reports of the exciting discove- ries lately made by Rawlinson, Layard, and other explorers of the long-buried relics of ancient pride and majesty. But we could not fail to be gratified with our youthful scholar and divine's a};propriate researches, clearly laying before us the architectural, sculptural, and literary (if I may so denominate the brief annals of arrow-head inscrip- tions,) monuments of kings and nations, long since departed from the view of living men. The meeting in the month of June was distinguished by an' unusually full attendance of members and friendly visiters, who had the peculiar pleasure of hearing our Honorary associate, Mr. Justice Parker, read his paper bearing the title *' Biblica Juridica." It was in fact a treatise, concise and unpretending, but remarkable for sagacious elucidation, on the origin and progress of judicial procedure, as discoverable in the historical and oliier scriptures of the Old Testament. Although Votes of Thanks had been abolished, I could not but feel assured that I should carry with me the approving concurrence of all present, in tendering His Honor the grateful acknow' 10 ledgments of the Society ; nor can I forget the impressive solemnity with which general assent was signified to the sentiment of the Chief Justice, in entire accordance with the principle which might be described as forming the foundation of his learned and pious brother's theory— *' that the source from which man derives jurisdiction over his fellow man, is not to be found in mere human ordinances, but in the appointment of the great Lord of all." In compliance with the Society's request, His Honor has had the goodness to present us, not with "a copy prepared for publication," but with copies, printed at his own charge, for the several members of the Athoneeum. The desire was further expressed at the meeting, that the same pen might be employed at some future day in tracing the rise and constitution of the Sanhedrim, and the course of judicial procedure through the later periods of Jewish history, in order to a justor appreciation of the trials and judgments of which we road, with feelings better understood than to be now and here expressed, in the affecting narratives of the New Testament. Our next meeting, afler the Society's customary "long vacation," took place in October, when the Master of the Rolls favoured us with a paper on " Early Maritime Disco* very ;" treating more especially of the alleged discoveries of this continent by adventurers from Northern Europe dur- ing the middle ages ; and discriminating, with the acumen of an equitable judge, the credit due to the evidence of successive voyagers in this direction, before the finally triumphant " Tierra ! Tierra ! " of the persevering com- panions of Columbus. The question, although generally perhaps regarded as interesting antiquaries alone, such as the Danish Society, whose highly patronized prospectus I had the pleasure of presenting to the Athenroum on this occasion, is far from unimportant to the progress of ethnology ; or to the student in theology, natural or revealed ; who cannot but entertain the desire of reducing to their true sourcca the varieties of the human race. Thai dwe in w are and front Ipressive to the ice with ling the heory— on over human lOrd of Honor a copy i at his onceum. that the day in and the iods of of the 8 better in the ' "long of the Disco' Jveries 36 dur- cumen ice of finally ' com- erally ich as ctus I n this 88 of il or icing race. That " God hath made of he blood all nations of men, to dwell on all the face of the earth," is indeed a great truth; in which such natural historians as Pritchard and Latham are known to agree with the noble apostle of the Gentiles; and every confirmation of this truth, which may he derived from investigating the migrations and intermixtures of mankind, conduces to the establishment of that "faith which (according to the same proclaimer of truly catholic religion) worketh by love ;" — the love of our whole race, of whatever modification of form and colour, as " heirs together of the grace of life;" of "the kingdom" of truth, peace, and universal co-operation for universal well-being, "promised by all the holy prophets," and longed for with intense desire by all the wise and good, " from the foundation of the world." . ,. • . The November paper, read by the Rev. Mr. Ketchum, tended to render us more alive to the style and characteristic excellencies of the prophetic choir. For the subject was "Hebrew Poetry;" and every Hebrew poet, with whose remains we are acquainted, sustained a sacred character ; was a prophet of the Most High; glorifying His adorable perfections, and calling on his fellow-worshippers, with "all inhabitants of the world," to learn and do His will. Our clerical friend was not unmindful of this glorious and sublime peculiarity of the Hebrew bards ; but, while delineating and exemplifying the structure, form, and external features of their compositions, drew our attention, in impassioned appeals, " Whose fire was kindled at the prophet's lamp," to the truly divine spirit by which they were all animated. The hallowed feeling was evidently communicated ; and there could not, I may well assume, be a dissentient to the enthusiasm, with which the minister of another church responded to the eulogies, in which his Episcopalian brother had celebrated — "The Lord who spake" by them, and " whose word was in (their) tongue." 12 In December the Rev. Mr. Brooke entertained and in* structed us with an ingenious and lively, but at the same time judicious (for — ''Ridentem dicere verum Quid vetat ? Ut pueris olim dant crustula blandi Doctores" — ) view of " The Origin and Progress of Written Language ;" tracing it back to the pictures, in which even the rudest tribes are now found to represent objects of sight, through the hieroglyphics of Egypt and other countries, to the alphabets of most civilized nations, and the really more philosophic characters of the Chinese. This lecture was received as the sequel of an enquiry, of which that part which related to oral language, had been presented to a former meeting ; and the hope was expressed that our reverend friend may yet further pursue a subject for which he is peculiarly qualified by his store of information, and his happy facility of thought and command of diction. It remains to remind you of the luminous, elegant, and thoroughly scientific disquisition on "The Human Voice," read at our last meeting in January, by His Honor the Chief Justice. His physiological analysis of the powerful but delicate organism, by which the human pipe pours forth all the varieties of vocal sound, was, I hesitate not to say, as perfect as philosophy could be expected to render it, without the aid of prints and models ; or rather indeed without the dissector's, or the vwisector'*s, demonstrations ; while to those of our members endowed with that peculiar faculty, a musical ear, more particularly if they had culti- vated their musical taste, nothing could be more delightful — except it were " The human voice divine" — than the explanations given of the nature and varieties, with the assigned or probable causes, of melodious sound. His Honor, who is unquestionably at home in the theory and practice of this charming art, will, it was generally hoped, on some future evening follow out the subject into ing the 13 . .»» the means and modifications, by which the utterance of the throat becomes articulate voice ; and so coustit; tes the boundless abundance of words, by which mankind prove and enhance, if they have not primarily attained, their various degrees of superiority over all other animals ; conceive at least ideas, embracing distant worlds, and enter- ing into converse with higher beings; and almost justify the daring antithesis of the thoughtful poet of the Night, — "A worm — a god !" On a final retrospect of the " proceedings of the year," I know not that I could conclude with a more appropriate sentiment, than to wish the number of the Society's mem- bers somewhat more proportionate to the talents and merits of those, whose contributions to our intellectual progress and enjoyment it has been my happy privilege to witness and acknowledge. How the desirable augmenta- tion may be best effected, is a question which I commend to your due consideration. Of that consideration I am persuaded it must be worthy ; because you have assuredly rendered the Athenaeum in a very considerable measure worthy of its name ; — a school of science and literature, such as might have formed an Eclectic Academy in some offset of ancient Athens, and become the improving resort of enquirers after truth and good. My Discourse has not been so long as some may per- haps have expected, not to say than any could have desired. I cannot plead want of time — of which, with my Collegiate and other engagements, I certainly might have found enough ; nor yet deficiency of matter — of which it must be obvious that your own proceedings might have furnished ampler supplies, without looking around at those inviting topics — Railways ; Bridges ; Telegraphs ; Steam and Air- moved Ships ; improvements, effected or proposed, in Agriculture, Manufactures, the finer Arts, general and even academic Education. But leaving these to gentle- men who may hereafter, and very fitly, adopt them for separate subjects of celebration or disquisition, I have restricted myself to the distinct impressions made upon my 14 own mind by what I have actually heard or seen at the meetings of our own Society ;— thus adhering, as I have ^ considered it the peculiar duty of the day, to the rule of the poetical critic, which appears equally applicable to compositions in plain prose : — " Ordinis haec virtus erit, aut ego fallor, *' Ut jam nunc dicat jam nunc debentia dici ; " Pleraque differat, et praesens in tempus omittat." Should I allow myself to offer a further suggestion, it would be merely this — whether on some occasions, perhaps during the more clement and serene seasons of the year, our doors might not be opened to others beside the regular members of the Society and their non-resident friends. I well remember the numerous assemblage of orderly and attentive persons, of different ranks and ages, and I may add of both e3xes, once attending the popular lectures, given by my estimable coadjutors in the chairs of this College, under the patronage of our then Lieutenant Governor, to whose final departure from another govern- ment, and from the fluctuating scenes of the present world, I have had affecting occasion to allude ; — and I see no reason why an equally unexceptionable, and probably greater company, might not be advantageously collected, to receive information in several departments of science and literature ; illustrated, not merely by the treasures of this Library, but by the more attractive and exciting appliances of our Museum, our Laboratory, our Philoso- phical Apparatus and Observatory. It has been sometimes recommended that even our ordinary meetings should be transferred to the City below, on the supposition that a more regular attendance might thus be secured. It may however be fairly doubted if much dependence could be placed on their appetite for pure and elevated enjoyment, to whom the few short steps of our exhilirating hill, or the gentler curve through our refreshing grove, very inferior I ween to " the severe ascent of high Parnassus," should present a difficulty too formidable to be overcome.