soou have the pleasure and advantage of directing your attention. I shall content myself with advancing and illustrating the position, that knowledge, by whomsoever obtained, like virtue, which it strikingly resembles, is its own reward; that, therefore, the pleasure flowing from mental exercise, and the satisfaction resulting from the attainment of truth, are sufficient compensations for the labour of study, when unattended by pecuniary or commercial advantage. The independent benefits resulting from these pursuits, I cannot better illustrate than by adopting the language of a distinguished divine, whose energetic eloquence has occasionally been heard within these walls. "Knowledge in general," says the Rev. Robert Hall, "expands the mind, exalts the faculties, refines the taste of pleasure, and opens innumerable sources of intellectual enjoyment. By means of it we become less dependent for satisfaction upon the sensitive appetites; the gross pleasures of sense are more easily despised; and we are made to feel the superiority of the spiritual to the material part of our nature. Instead of being continually solicited by the influence and irritation of sensible objects, the mind can retire within herself, and expatiate in the cool and quiet walks of contemplation. The Author of nature has wisely annexed a pleasure to the exercise of our active powers, and particularly to the pursuit of truth, which, if it be in some instances less intense, is far more durable than the gratifications of sense: and this duration, to say nothing of its other properties, renders it incomparably more valuable. It may be repeated without satiety, and pleases afresh with every reflection, upon it. These are self-created satisfactions, always within our reach, not dependent upon events; not requiring a peculiar combination of circumstances to produce or maintain them; they rise from the mind itself, and inhere, so to speak, in its very substance. Let the mind but retain its proper functions, and they spring up spontaneously, unsolicited, unborrowed, and unbought. Even the difficulties and impediments which obstruct the pursuit of truth, serve, according to the economy under which we are placed, to render it more interesting. The labour of intellectual search resembles and exceeds the tumultuous pleasures of the chace; and the consciousness of overcoming a formidable obstacle, or of lighting upon some happy discovery, gives all the enjoyments of a conquest, without those corroding reflections by which the latter must be impaired.” “ Can we doubt,” he adds, “that Archimedes, who was so absorbed in his contemplations, as not to be diverted from them by the sacking of his native city, and was killed in the very act of meditating a mathematical theorem, did not, when he exclaimed, 'I have found it! I have found it!' feel a transport as genuine as was ever experienced after the most brilliant victory."

Whilst I thus refer several important explanations to Professor Millington, it would, I am aware, be satisfactory, and may even be expected, that a sketch of the design and progress of the London Mechanics' Institution should here be introduced, supplying information on topics, which hitherto have been very inadequately comprehended by the public. This delineation I defer at present, in compliance with the suggestions of the committee, for the purpose of connecting with it some notice of our financial concerns, and some other matters of interest, in order that you may be made acquainted with them before the next general meeting of the subscribers, the regular channel for such communications.

One advantage which may perhaps be produced by the introduction of science amongst the operative classes, some recent legislative movements induce me to mention. The wisdom of our present rulers is likely soon to explode certain restrictive measures, by which, the want of wisdom or the superabundance of its spurious representative in their long extinct predecessors, had fettered the artizan. To accomplish this purpose, it is probable that the most splendid talents of both the great parties in the state will be united; and it can scarcely be doubted, that they will succeed in repealing those laws, which prohibit the exportation of machinery, the emigration of the artizan, and the combination of workmen for purposes which they may deem essential to their prosperity. Now, extensive emigration, one probable consequence of such repeals, we must deplore; because with this portion of our population, the strength and the wealth of the nation must depart from our shores. If by improving the means of production and increasing the sources of his comfort, we render the artizan better satisfied with the fruits of his labour and more strongly attached to his native land, we shall effectually restrain his disposition to wander by the influence of his free choice, without the operation of statutes to which he reluctantly submits. Unless allured by very strong temptations, the English mechanic will seldom quit the home of his

fathers: he clings to the spot which gave him birth with the fondest affection; and although occasionally disturbed by discontent, or crossed by hopeless anticipation, is ready to exclaim with Cowper, a poet replete with the pure and unsophisticated sentiments of a Briton,

England, with all thy faults, I love thee still.

My country! and, while yet a nook is left

Where English minds and manners may be found,

Shall be constrained to love thee. Though thy clime

Be fickle, and thy year most part deformed

With dripping rains, or withered by a frost,

I would not yet exchange thy sullen skies

And fields without a flower, for warmer France
With all her vines; nor for Ausonia's groves

Of golden fruitage, and her myrtle bowers.

Far, however, be it from me to advocate the retention within the circumference~ of our Island, of the Arts and Sciences, which are our best possessions, and our brightest ornaments. Over the western world, now in her sublime career of independence calling for their aid, I would have them liberally diffused; thus, indeed, in part atoning for those wrongs which followed in the train of the genius and enterprise of Columbus. Let European arts and European science freely cross the western main, to enrich the gay savannahs, and the vast mountain plains, in regions distinguished alike by their sublimity and inexhaustible fertility, until all that can be wafted by the winds, or that can be impelled by all-conquering steam, excepting European vices and European warriors, may be found

Where Andes, giant of the western star,

Looks from his throne of clouds o'er half the world.

It ought likewise ever to be remembered, that a relationship, and even a close alliance, has been established betwixt this country and all the habitable portions of the globe; enforcing the duty of reciprocal service, and demanding from us a full performance of good offices, whenever and wheresoever we may appear. Especially, if as represented by the eloquent Secretary for Foreign Affairs, on a late festive occasion in this city, we form with other nations, however remote, but one great family. "We ought never to forget," says he, "that at all periods the field of our native glory is that sea, which disjoins all other countries from each other, and unites them all to England.”

Before I conclude this introductory address, permit me, Gentlemen, to repel some apprehensions or insinuations, which, in the cautious but mischievous mode of hinting a fault, or hesitating dislike, have been opposed to our proceedings. From the want of being well known, we certainly have not obtained full credit for the singleness of our purpose; and we have been, somewhat illiberally it must be granted, suspected of having more in our designs than has been allowed to meet the ear. For myself, who, although not the originator of this Institution, took the earliest counsel with its earliest effectual projectors, I can boldly declare, that the scientific cultivation of the mind of the mechanic, was and still continues to be, my only object. For my friends Mr. Robertson and Mr. Hodgskin, your original temporary secretaries, who first gave currency to the plan, and were the powerful. means of organizing our first public movements, I can with equal confidence answer. But what need of any voucher here for them? They are always before you. The Mechanic's Magazine, the most valuable gift which the hand of science has ever yet offered to the artizan, of which they are the intelligent Editors, carries along with it incontestible evidence of the inflexible resolution with which they can pursue their sole objects, your amelioration and your instruction. For several individuals who took an active part in the public proceedings, and for the Committee to whom you have entrusted the management of your concerns, I can without hesitation, make a similar avowal. All intention of interference with political questions we do therefore disclaim; and, not less cheerfully than advantageously, do we resign them to that “patriot-eloquence,” which can shake the senate, and flash down fire upon our country's foes. If indirectly we shall be supposed to exercise any influence, and education may extend the views of the Mechanic,-I am persuaded that we shall invigorate the attachment which must ever exist to every wise and well-constructed system of legislation. Such at least was the opinion of "the great political unknown," as the following

quotation will testify, "The submission," says Junius, "of a free people to the executive authority of government, is no more than a compliance with laws which they themselves have made. While the national honour is firmly maintained abroad, and while justice is impartially administered at home, the obedience of the subject will be voluntary, cheerful, and I might almost say unlimited. A generous nation is grateful even for the preservation of its rights; and willingly extends the affection due to the office of a good prince into an affection for his person. Loyalty in the heart and understanding of an Englishman is a rational attachment to the guardian of the laws."

Whilst we also determine to avoid all direct interference with another subject of importance still more vital and profound, we feel confident that by the light which we propose to diffuse, we shall strengthen rather than invalidate its sanctions. That system of morality, which has for the basis of its social regulations the plain, comprehensive, practical, and persuasive injunction, to " do unto others, that which we wish others should do unto us;" and that system of religion, which assures us that "this mortal shall put on immortality;" which imparts to us a knowledge

Of things above this world, and of their being
Who dwell in Heaven;

and which promises, after the best and happiest employment of this transitory condition, an endless progression in knowledge and felicity, never can be defrauded of their paramount influence upon the heart of man, by measures which are calculated to enlarge his intellectual possessions. By looking abroad through nature, it is obvious likewise, that our conceptions of the stupendous power of its Omniscient Author, must be improved, enlarged, and exalted; and a frequent reverential scrutiny during the search after final causes, into the designs of creation, will gradually and impressively unfold their wisdom and benevolence: thereby unavoidably augmenting our instinctive and acquired feelings, of gratitude and veneration towards Omnipotence. 66 Every man," says the late candid and distinguished theologian Dr. Paley, "has some particular train of thought, which, more than any other, determines his character. This train may be more or less judiciously fixed; but, in a moral view, there is no contradiction, that if one train be more desirable than another, it is that which regards the phenomena of nature, with a constant reference to a supreme, intelligent Author. To have made this the habitual sentiment of our minds, is to have laid the foundation of every thing which is religious. The world from thence becomes a temple, and life itself one continued act of adoration.",

[An Abstract of Professor Millington's Lecture in our next.]

[BLAKEY'S STEAM-ENGINE.

Manchester, Feb. 1824. GENTLEMEN ;Your correspondent K. B. is quite mistaken in his remarks on Blakey's Steam-engine The scheme (as he is pleased to term it) originated with the ingenious inventor. I beg leave to refer K. B. to Ferguson's Mechanical Lectures for a more particular description of it. The author of that valuable work justly recommends it for its simplicity, its small consumption of fuel, and its powerful effect as an engine for raising water by the expansive power of steam. Perhaps a cause might be assigned for this and many other useful inventions being kept in the back-ground.

The observations of K. B. respecting the_condensation of steam, &c. has

not the least foundation in truth. He ought to have known, that a certain quantity of air is compressed on the surface of the water, which is discharged perfectly cold. But as experiment is more conclusive than argument, K. B. may satisfy himself as to the truth of the above statement at a very trifling expense, by procuring a small tin boiler, to contain about half a pint of water, connected by a pipe to another tin vessel twothirds full, containing two or three pints of cold water. He will find, on causing the water to boil in the small boiler, that the steam will enter the space over the cold water, and will not be condensed, but will force the water out by the pipe perfectly cold. My only object in offering the engine to the consideration of your corne