PREFACE.

Ir seems desirable to premise to the following Address some account of the occasion on which it was delivered, and of the nature of the Establishment with which it is connected.

The vast increase of that superior portion of the middle classes of society, which the general diffusion of intellectual cultivation has now brought within its full operation, and has naturally inspired with the desire to impart to their offspring all the advantages of a superior education, evidently requires in the present age a considerable extension of the means of affording such an education. Our elder Universities, indeed, admirable as they are in themselves, and justly as they must ever claim from the younger institutions, which may strive at a humble distance to follow their bright examples, a filial reverence and regard*, are yet, from the necessary limitation of their numbers, from their local circumstances, and from the conditions of expense which the general concourse of the first youth of the country can hardly fail to impose (even under any system of discipline) upon such establishments, restricted in great measure to the higher and wealthier classes exclusively; far beyond which, the actual demand for similar advantages of education now appears to be diffused, a demand which can only effectually be met by the multiplication of establishments for such an education throughout those larger cities which constitute the metropolitan centres of extensive districts, and which may thus by local circumstances, and by an organization

* These younger institutions, deriving as they must from such almæ matres, their most efficient instructors, and the soundest models of discipline, must ever be ready gratefully to apply to them the language adopted as a motto by one of them, "Hinc lucem et pocula sacra."

especially directed to this object, more readily, more widely, and more cheaply, extend the advantages they offer.

Bristol, the natural metropolis of our south-western counties, and long the second city of our empire, presents a local point which cannot but appear highly favourable for undertaking such an establishment: and with such views has BRISTOL COLLEGE been instituted; and its founders have been encouraged by auspices derived from many local_recollections. Grocinus, the distinguished friend of Erasmus, the earnest explorer of the classical stores of Italy, at the period of the revival of learning, and himself one of the first restorers of Grecian literature in this country, was a CITIZEN OF BRISTOL. In Poetry this city claims the memory of Chatterton, and the living fame of Southey; in Painting she boasts of her Lawrence and Bird; and in Sculpture, of the surviving talents of Baily: as to Science, it may be mentioned that it was here that the then young Davy commenced his chemical career as the assistant of Beddoes. To develope such minds, and to increase their opportunities of finding appropriate cultivation, is the great object and the fond hope of such institutions as the College recently founded.

This College has been established by the joint subscriptions of a proprietary body. It has been placed under the superintendence of a Principal and Vice Principal, who are Graduates of the University of Cambridge; Dr. Jerrard, late Classical Tutor of Caius College, and Mr. Butterton, Fellow of St. John's. The College was only opened on the 17th January, 1831: but it may be satisfactory to subjoin a short statement of the course of instruction intended to be pursued, and even at this early period very efficiently entered upon.

In Classics, the same Authors are read, and with the same critical accuracy, as at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Sophocles and Euripides, Thucydides, Demosthenes and Xenophon, Tacitus, Cicero, Juvenal, Horace, and Virgil's Georgics, have been hitherto the

subjects of regular lectures. Eschylus, Aristophanes and Plato have also been read. Much attention is given to composition in Greek, Latin and English, as also to History and General Literature.

In Mathematics, the Students have hitherto been chiefly occupied with Euclid and Bourdon's Algebra. The Integral and Differential Calculus and Mechanics have however been already lectured in at the College. [This course is to be extended to the Mécanique Analytique of Lagrange, and the Mécanique Celeste of Laplace. The most important parts of Newton's Principia will also be read.]

In Metaphysics, the text-book is Locke, and reference is made to all the most eminent British metaphysicians. The subject of the Grecian Logic is occasionally introduced. [In Ethics, besides Paley's Moral Philosophy, it is intended, in order to pursue the connection of this science with Theology, to adopt Butler's Analogy as a standard work.]

Professors of French, German and Italian, have been appointed. In the first of these languages a large Class has already been formed.

The Lectures on the Greek Testament consist chiefly of critical explanations of the text, and of such illustrations of it as are afforded by the works of Michaelis, Lardner, Schleusner, and Paley (whose Evidences and Horæ Paulinæ are much used).

Every morning before the commencement of Lectures the Students are all assembled to hear a portion of the Scriptures read by the Principal.

Such is a sketch of what is actually done at the Bristol College within little more than four months after its opening. It is expected that arrangements will shortly be made for Lectures in the Oriental Languages, as also in Geology, Chemistry, and other branches of science.

In order to complete their plan, the Council have resolved to establish a Junior department of the Bristol College. This is to open on the 1st of September next, under the direction of J. Price, M.A., of St. John's College Cambridge.

With reference to the more immediate occasion of the course of Theological Lectures, to which the following Inaugural Address forms the introduction, it is only necessary to observe, that as it was desired to place the Institution on the most extensively useful and liberal basis, impartial admission to all the advantages it offers is conceded without distinction to the members of different religious communities. At the same time, a large portion of the Council (being members of the Established Church) have felt it their duty in no manner to neglect the providing sufficient means for the religious instruction of the Pupils belonging to the same in the tenets of that Church. To this effect the Seventh Article of the general constitution of the College declares "That the Institution shall be open to Students of all religious denominations without preference or distinction; but that it shall be competent to a committee, consisting of those members of the Council who are also members of the Church of England, to institute lectures and provide instruction in Theology, under such regulations as they shall determine on*.' To carry the latter part of this Article into effect, a special committtee has been accordingly organized, and has adopted the following Resolutions.

"At a Meeting of Proprietors of the Bristol College, assembled on Thursday, the 10th of December, 1829, in the Lecture Room of the Philosophical Institution, to take into consideration the commencement of a Fund for the Endowment of the Theological Lecture at the College, and for earrying into effect the Seventh Regulation of that Establishment; J. C. Prichard, M.D., F.R.S., in the Chair; the Seventh Regulation, passed at the establishment of the Bristol College, on the 26th November, 1829, having been read, the following Resolutions were unanimously adopted :"Moved by W. P. Taunton, Esq., and seconded by C.

*The appointment of a Lecturer for this purpose, and the responsibility for any expenses which may be incurred, of course devolve exclusively on the special committee appointed with reference to this object.

George, Esq.;-That a Subscription be immediately opened for the commencement of a Fund in aid of the endowment of a Theological Lecture at the Bristol College, and for carrying into effect the Seventh Regulation of that Institution.

"Moved by J. C. Swayne, Esq., and seconded by E. B. Fripp, Esq.;-That the Fund, consisting of Donations and Annual Subscriptions, be placed under the management of a Committee of Members of the Church of England, appointed by the Seventh College Regulation.

"Moved by Mr. John Taylor, and seconded by James Gibbs, Esq.;-That Christopher George, Esq., be appointed Treasurer of the Fund, and that he be required to make a report annually of the state thereof to the Committee,—a copy of which shall be sent to every Donor and Subscriber thereto.

"Moved by R. Poole King, Esq., and seconded by F. Ricketts, Esq.;-That a Copy of the Proceedings of this Meeting be sent to every Proprietor of the College, and that they be respectfully requested to patronize the Lecture Fund. "J. C. PRICHARD, Chairman."

"College Chambers, 19 St. Augustine's-Place, Bristol, January 29, 1830.

"At a Meeting of the Theological Lecture Committee, Dr. Prichard in the Chair; It was unanimously Resolved, That the Course of Theological Instruction be conducted according to the following outline :

"1.-The evidence and doctrine of natural religion, as deduced by inference from the works of nature, from the phanomena of the human mind, and from the circumstances of mankind. The text-books of this part of the course may be the works of Derham and Paley on Natural Theology, and the Analogy of Bishop Butler.

"2.-The evidences of Christianity; taking as text-books the works of Paley, Chalmers, and Less, on this subject.

"3.-A brief survey of biblical criticism, upon the basis of the lectures and translations of Bishop Marsh, or at least the second volume of the Introduction to the Critical Study of the Scriptures by the Rev. Hartwell Horne.

"4.-Scriptural Archæology, with Sacred and Ecclesiastical

History.

"5. The doctrines of the Church of England.

"6. The most important principles relative to Church Discipline.