The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-12 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 12, 1853.

lAALTRENT'S CASINO, ARGYLL ROOMS.-
Lessee, CHARLES E. LAURENT, Onslow•house, Fulham-
road. open Every Evening. The Orchestra will perform, during
the week. "The Thistle," "Shamrock. " Rose," "Amina" " Gran-
ville "Loch Vogel," and "Windsor Castle" Waltzes; the "Napo-
leon" Galop ; "Le Cirque" Quadrille; "The Gold Hawk' and
Juno" Polkas.— Admission, Is. Doors open. at Half•past Eight;
Dancing to commence at Nine o'clock, and terminate at Half-past
Eleven.

XCISE-OFFICE, in Old Broad-stivet.
A To be SOLI), by AUCTION (in one Lot), by Mr. Oad?on,
at the AUCTION MART, on FRIDAY, the 13th ot'May, 1853, at 12
o'clock, by order of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, the
PREMISE-I in Old Broad-streot, in the city of London, known tor-
merly as the EXCISE-OFFICE, and lately hs the Inland Revenue-
office.
Particulttra may be obtained at the offices of the Secretary and
Solicitor i f Inland Revenue, Somerset-house; and of William Derbert, Esq , the Board's Surveyor of Buildings, at his office on the
premises, in Old Broad-street (where a plan of the property may be
and' of the Auctioneer, at his offices, No.lB in the same street.

G IL A

VESEND STA
PACKETS,
call at the Grays, Greenhithe, and Purled I'
1 at the Piers as underlined i weather perwitti
A TERRACE PIER, GRAVESEND.

No other Packets
The Packets cal'
F

SUNDAYS

WEER

Terrace
Pier.

7%
*talk
t9M

1
3g
5

Time. 1.
,62
m

7% -
84, -
11g -
IN, -
34 -
5 -
6% -

ners.
lug)

Direct Trains from the Boats masked
Omnibnses from Fenehurch-street Station to all parts of London
every quarter of an hour.
BRUNSWICK wnmir, BLACKWALL, on the arrival of thTfoT-
lovving Trains from the Fenehurch-street Station.

WEEK DAYS. SUNDAYS.
----1 .
2
.= m m
4 -.. 5 • 5
t A-. ..i ?4 A ;
Time. m —e, as
..h) Time. 0 _ , E o 1 E . .
4 8 , E a „, vim o ' 8 0 3
0 4 A' al 1:4
914 —.— 9
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it
121 A
21,4 214 i
414 - —3% I _
*5 ki 5 i
6% -- -- 6

Passages market I are run direct.

Fore Cabin. Saloon.
fo or from Gravesend and 10d. .. Is. 2d.
„ Gravesend and Blackwall or Woolwich Bd. •• Os. 10d.
Between Gravesend and Intermediate Piers.. . 6d. .. Os. Bt.
BOAT TICKETS.—TweIve Months, 5.. Oa.; Six Months, 31. Os. ;
Three Months, 2►. Os. ; to be had of the Collectors on board the
Packets; or of Mr. Monk, Terrace Pier, Gravesend.
Fast and Commodious Packets to Let for Excursions. For Terms,
apply to Mr. W. Moreau, Agent, Star Office, Fenchurch-street Ter-
minus, Blackwall Railway.
April 25, 1853.

II R. CULVERWELL'S NEW WORKS.
J To be had of Sherwood, 23, Paternoster row , Carvell)°,
47, Fleet-street, Mann, 39, Cornhill. Price One Shilling each ; by
is 6.1.

ENJOYMENT OF LIFE.
"Health, Recreation, and Rational Use of Time."
CoisTENTs:—Early Rising—Spring and Summer MOIIIIDVI-Ex-
minions about the Environs of London—The Parks, Lanes, Hills
Forests, Fields, High-roads, and other pleasant places - Country
Trips and Rambles—The Sea -London at Night—Evenings at Home
Music—The Drama—On Eating, Drinking, Bathing, Air
Rest, Ease, Occupation, &c., &c.
FRAGMENTS FROM THE FOUNTAINS. Two Vols.
Vol. I.
VISIT 10 THE LAKES ; SKETCH OF EDINBURGH, &O.

Vol. 11.
TAE LAKES OF KILLARNEY ; REMINISCENCES OF
DUBLIN, &a.

WHAT TO EAT, DRINK, AND AVOID,
"That three score years and ten our course may run."
A' popular review of almost every form (cause and cure) of ner-
vously-debilitated health and enfeebled constitution that harasses
ihe young, besets the man of pleasure, business or study, and em-
Mters old age ; with tables and rulesfor the diet and physical regu•
[Won of every-day life.

IV.
THE PASSIONS.
.1 What passions hurt the body—what improve,
Truths as refined as Athens ever heard."
SIIIIJRCT :—Life's pilgrimage, from infancy to old age. The ad-
vent of the nassions. Chastity and its infringement. The casualties
of licentiousness and dissipation, with illustrations, graphic, narra-
tive, and reuiediative. Advocacy of early marriages.
V.

TIIE MARRIAGE STATE.
Ts bo or not to be, thatis the question.*

PROGRAMME :—Laws and obligations of nature, society, and reli-
gion regarding marriage, to be observed by either sex. Time and
choice, on both sides, as to age temperament, complexion, and
figure. to cecure healthy offspring, with the art of rearing them
Physical defectiveness and its removal. Sterility audits conversion.
Cases, &c.
By It.J. CtfLVHRWELL. M.D. (1841). M.R.C.S. (1827). L.S.A.
24), Twenty-five years Medical and Forensic Referee in there
matters

Price Is. each ; by powt. Is. 6d.
To be had of Sherwood, 23. Paternoster-row ; Carvalho, 147,
Fleet-street; Vann, 39, Coruhill; or of M. B. Culverwell, M.D.,
10, A rxyll-ploce. Retent-street, who may be consulted daily from
Ten till Five and Seven till Nine.

IMPORTANT MEDICAL AND SURGICAL WORE S
Jest published, by IL Bailliero, 219, Regent-street, Landon.
No I.
vo., In cloth. price ss. by post free, Si. 6d.,
ON TRITE & FALSE SPERMATORRHCEA,
with the View to the Correction of wide-spread Errors
in relation to the Treatment and Cure of Sufferers from Debility of the
generative System, or Sexual Hypochondriasis.
Translated from the German of Dr. BICKFORD
"Dr. Bickford 'a known to English readers by his frequent practi-
aal contributions to German medical literature. This is the first
time, he Informs as, that he has addressed himself to the non-medi-
cal reader. We trust this may not be the last, lf he shall
cletect any other equally flagrant evil which it may be In his
• ower to correct."—London Medical Gazette, May 30, 1851.
"We tromised in a former number that we should recur to this
wort, in order to exhibit its aim more clearly. The author lashes
with great severity the impostors who make a livelihood by preying
on the etedullty of the public. The tribe of Quiet Symathisers,'
and Medical Friends,' are mercilessly exposed ; and if this book
?,ould find its way into the hands of those who gaffer from th com-
plaint of which it tregts, we are satisfied that many h Indreds would
ue saved much needless suffering of body and mind, and what is of
less importance, though it is that which the quacks most prize—
much money ... ...This volume is well qualified to put an end to the
.mpirical system of treating Spermatorrhcea, and to place the treat-
-.vent upon a more rational and physiological basis. It is, therefore,
''Vtly to do much good."—Medleal Circular, June 16, 1852.
No. 11.
svo., to cloth, price 3s. 6d., by post free, es.,
THE CURE OF STRICTURE OF THE URETHRA, on Princi-
ples at. once Simple, Safe, and Efficient, in oven its most Inveterate
and apparently Intractable Forms.
BY F. B. COURTENAY,
Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
"In proof of his views he (Mr. Courtenay) has given
history of a great many cases successfully treated, as bad
any which Mr. Syme adduced, and on which he had operated.
•zuch are cases ix., xl., xii.. and xviii. No. ix. had res aced, for a
period of twelve years, the treatment by dilitation. and was finally
re noved in as many weeks, lint cases xvhi. and xix. appear, both
in duratien, severity, and complication of symptoms, of a more ag-
gravated character than any detailed by Mr. Syme. and yet the
treatment adopted by Mr. Courtenay proved eminently successful."
—Professor Lizars on the Treatment of Stricture.

ROYAL LITERARY FUND.

The 64th anniversary of this institution was yesterday
celebrated by a public dinner at the Freemasons' Tavern.
Mr. Disraeli, M.P., took the chair; and among the
company were the Marquis of Salisbury. Lord J. Man-
ners, Lord Stanley, Lord A. Vane, Mr. C. Hardiuge,
Dr. M'llvaine (Bishop of Ohio), Chevalier d'Aieglio,
Mr. Justice Haliburton (Sam Slick), the Queen's Advo-
cate, Professor Aytoun, Sir G. Head, Sir H. Ellis, the
Hon. B. King (United States), Mr. Evelyn, M.P., AM
Milnes, M.P., Mr. Jas. M'Gregor, M.P, Mr. Digby
Seymour, M.P., Professor Fenton (U.S.A.), Mr. Sergt.
Merewether, the Consuls-General of Belgium and of the
Uruguay, Mr. Spencer, F.R.S., Dr. Daubeny (of Ox-
ford), Mr. H. T. Hope, Mr. P. Salomons, the Rev. Dr.
Vaughan (Harrow), Mr. C. Croker, Dr. R. G. Latham,
Professor Cressy, Dr. Darling, Mr. G. Peabody, Mr. T.
Martin, the Rev. H. Alford, the Hon. S. Anuesley,
Mr. J. R. Kenyon, and Mr. Douglas Jerrold.
At the conclusion of the dinner,
"
Mr. DISRAELI, who was exceedingly well received on
rising, proposed the first toast, The Queen,
the
Patroness of. the Institution." He said, he was aware
that that was a toast which in every assembly of
Englishmen was received with affectionate enthusiasm,
but those now assembled must hail that toast with
something beyond the devoted loyalty which it was the
privilege of every one of her Majesty's subjects to feel,
for they would recollect that that institution was one
over which her Majesty, from the period of her happy
accession, had watched with the greatest interest. (Ap-
plause.) He had to announce that her Majesty con-
tinued that liberal benefaction which for so many years
had enabled them to accomplish those results which had
entitled their them_
to public sympathy and
respect. He might mention, though perhaps it was
comparatively speaking, a slight trait, yet it was
indicative of the personal interest' which her Ma-
jesty and her lloyal Consort took in the fortunes
of, that institution, that it was only, he believed, within
ese few days-111.41- het Majesty' had been 'gractcrasty
pleased to command that the portraits of herself and his
Royal Highness sbould be sent to the principal apart-
ment is which the business of that institution was tran-
sacted. (Cheera.)( Her Majesty had on all occasions
shown the utmost sympathy with all those institutions
in which the. interests of science, art, and literature were
concerned, but it was their proud privilege to remember
that from the first she had favoured that institution with
peculiar consideration. (Cheers.)
The toast was drunk with every demonstration of en-
thusiasm.

Mr. DISRAELI next proposed "The health of Prince
Albert, Albert Prince of Wales and other members of
the Royal family." He said that he did not know that
the influence of individual character could be more hap-
pily or significantly proved than by the progress of art,
science, and literature since the period when Prince
Albert adopted England as his own country. (Cheers.)
There were many gentlemen in that room, he doubted
not, who had been placed in personal communication
with his Royal Highness on subjects connected with art,
science, and literature ; and he was sure that they would
all at once acknowledge that in his Royal Highness
they found no mechanical Maecenas, but a man who was
complete master of all the subjects which engaged their
attention. (Applause.) Those who were placed in
communication with him knew, well that this was not
the language of adulation, but of severe truth. He trusted
that his Royal Highness might succeed in the efforts he
was constantly making to advance the civilisation of
this country, to heighten the standard of education, and
to refine and elevate the taste of this land, with which

he was so intimately connected. (Hear, hear.) But
it was not merely on account of those claims to their
respect and admiration that he now proposed the
health of his Royal Highness ; but they (the members
of the Literary Fund) would recollect the time when
his Royal Highness condescended even to fill that
chair which he (Mr. Disraeli) now had the honour to
occupy, and that, he believed, was the only public festival
over which his Royal Highness had presided. (Cheers.)
His Royal Highness had, moreover, on every occasion,
testified the sympathy he felt with the efforts of that
institution, and he trusted his Royal Highness would
leave behind him a long line of princes who would not
disgrace their illustrious sire. (Applause.)
The toast was drunk with the usual honours,
Mr. DISRAELI next proposed the toast of "The
Church," connecting with it the name of the " Bishop of
Ohio," observing that no one could cast his eyes over the
catalogue of illustrious English authors without perceiv-
ing how much the country was indebted to the bench of
prelates for some of the best writings in the language.
In the present time they could boast that one of the most
eminent of their literary characters, the Archbishop of
Dublin, was the constant friend of that institution—
(applause) ;—and they would remember also that the
Bishop of London, an eminent author, an unrivalled
scholar, had filled the chair which he now occupied.
Though those two good friends of the institution were
prevented from attending on that evening, yet he was
happy and proud to say that there was among them a
bishop of the Church of England. (Applause.) The
rev. prelate came, indeed, from a distant land that did
not own the sway of the Queen of England, but he bore
a heart faithful to her church, and he brought with him
feelings which completely reciprocated all they could
offer to him. (Cheers.)
The Bishop of OHIO, in responding to the toast, stated
that it was the honour and happiness of the church in
America to derive its origin from the church in this land.
Their articles of faith were the same, and it would be the
constant endeavour of the members of the church in
America to preserve that faith, and the expressions of
that faith which they had derived from the Church of
England, uncorrupted. The right rev. prelate con-
cluded by referring to the Protestant missionaries, and
characterised them as a body of men who during the last
50 years were engaged in the work of contributing
greatly to the literature of the world, by making known
various languages which otherwise would have remained
unknown, and by translating the Scriptures for a mul-
titude of populations.

Mr. DISRAELI said, it was now his gratifying duty to '
propose that they should express their cordial feelings !
towards that institution, sympathy for whose purposes '
and whose fortunes had assembled them under that roof.
He thought it must be nearly three-quarters of a century
since the founder of this institution (not himself an
author, but a man of letter-press) expressed to a per-
sonage no less important than Dr. Franklin his idea of
the importance of instituting a fund which should not
pretend indeed, to offer equivalents to men of genius and
learning for the benefits which they had contributed to
society, but which would at least prevent such persons
from suffering intolerable misery, and would no longer
permit those catastrophes to occur which were a flagrant
outrage on the literary honour of any civilised commu-
nity. (Cheers.) Dr. Franklin was certainly not de-
ficient in knowledge of human nature. This must be
said of that great man,—that he was not wanting in the
noblest sympathies of humanity ; yet, when the establish-
ment of the literary fund was proposed, even Dr.
Franklin, with his consummate knowledge of human
nature, and his fine sympathy with humanity, looked
upon the idea of a fund raised for such a purpose as a
speculation too refined for any practical application.
Common charities, Dr. Franklin said, sprung from
common feelings, but that it was vain, though beautiful,
to suppose that there ever could be, to accomplish such
an end, sufficient sympathy between the mass of man-
kind and that peculiar class of beings who were called
authors. Well, it was the fortune of the founder of this
institution a fortune which would, perhaps, be re-
membered in the literary history of this great country
—to submit his views and feelings on the subject to
three of the most eminent public characters who
adorned the end of the 18th. century. It was the
fortune of the founder of this institution to communi-
cate his views to Mr. Pitt, to the illustrious rival of
Mr. Pitt, and finally to Mr. Burke. It was singular
that three individuals, who resembled each other in
nothing except in the identity of their fame—it was re-
markable that these three individuals agreed alike in their
opinions that the plan of the founder of this society was
only a beautiful speculation that could never be realised.
The austere and absorbed Minister, the genial orator of
Opposition, and the profound political sage, who himself
'
owed his fame as much to letters as to politics—all
agreed that no body of public benefactors could be col-
lected whose united aid could ever sufficiently contribute
to the exigencies of men of genius and learning. A con-
siderable period of time had revolvedlie since that
kheehrela.tionTshwe which sub-
sistedthet re ahe changetweenauthors occurredand
dthe
pe
A great had
was first broached in an obscure tavern club had been
realised in the Royal Corporation of the Literary Fund.
Sovereigns were its patrons, and princes had presided
epoch.sided
over its festivals. (Cheers.) The 64th anniversary of
fa-
vour and indulgence of the managers, he had been called
on to preside—proved the continuous syinlitptahteshye
days,f an
the existence of this institution, over which, by the
irtet;teill d exist unless
enlightened community in its
ns were called
briefly to in uire
gheutnihearniutYn—pro(was beneficial to
iwnhcie
question,
etsht
iee
ii principles,and
w hoefe all
no their
institutionw institutions :
it could be proved that its maintenanerhapo,
be not alto-
afiptephlaiue sief)h—e
very
institution was
whether the principle on which
principle ;and, if it
established was a true and Bound
hether the resources
were a true and sound principle, w
' and discreetly ap-
plied the institution had been efficientlys to administer them.
plied by those whose duty it
wathe days of Benjamin
(Applause.) Now, although since
it
might,
presumed
had occurred in the re-
Franklin a very great revolution
the public—a public which
lation between authors and
hid, was now recognised
did not previously exist, but w
as the reading public ; and, although these changes were
very favourable to the author
dam,
still the conditions on
be obtained, notwithstanding
the literary success could o •
taken place in the social relations
the changes that had .
e invariable. The author
the public, were
of authors and
t have appealed to a public who
who succeeded. miums ;
the author who wished to con-
sympathised with h
must appeal to a public taste that
tinue his successes
capricious ; and the author
who might have
was not .both contingencies must, if he wished
been fortunate in
succeed,
be favoured by that nature
• ue to
to cootie
hii; health
C o be
hter as constant as tho
which would allow
) It was not im-
public nature. (Cheers and l taug .
ose—because they had too many proofs
possible to supp
to suppose that a writer might
t was not impossible
—1 t work which fell stillborn from the pressad
produce a great
ose that one who had
It
notimpossible to s pp
It vrag

satisfied the public taste might advance again with all
those alluring qualities which had faseinated the public
mind, and yet on the second occasion might appeal to a
distasteful or insensible public. It was not impossible
to suppose—because sad experience furnished them with
too many instances—that when the charmed public was
again to receive a repetition of the spell which bad fas-
cinated its, feeling, nature might whisper to the author
that the brain, which was overworked, should lie fallow,
and that the frame, which was trembling with agitation,
required for its restoration quiet and repose. (Hear,
hear.) These were occasions when it was delightful to
believe that that society had been the agent, as it were,
that soothed the disappointed author and sustained the
exhausted mind of genius. It was something that the
society should have achieved this, and that in these •
circumstances which he bad described some power
should exercise its influence to offer solace and re-
pose. He had been now referring to those whose
literary career had at one time been attended with
brilliant success, and had resembled the passage
of a dazzling meteor, but the history and faith of
literary men generally were different. What was an
author ? He might ask those who were members of the
Corporation of the Literary Fund—a corporation which,
for 64 years, had watched the idiosyncracy of that pecu-
liar being—what in general was sm author ? He was a
man who obeyed the iiTestible impulse of organic laws,
devoted himself to the extension of the domain of know-
ledge and the cultivation of the human mind. To do
this, such a man gave himself up to the study of some
special, probably some abstruse subject—to a subject
that demanded infinite research, continuous labour, in-
tense thought—the dedication of an existence. It was
possible that the life of such a man was the life in gene-
ral of scholars. It was possible he might love that fru-
gality of habits which was not difficult to be practised
by those whose greatest pleasure arose from intellectual
excitement ; but let it be remembered that a single one
of those commonplace casualties which were the inevit-
able accident of the life of man under ordinary circum-
stances wag to such a being an overwhelming and crush-
ing incident. (Hear, hear.) 111-health, unexpected
needs and requirements, domestic sorrow—and such a
being was utterly overwhelmed. (Hear, hear.) Well,
then, it was under these circumstances that an institution
established on the principle on which the Royal Literary
Fund was established stepped in, and said that men of
this class and character, who were the ministers of civi-
lisation, should not be the victims of exigencies. It was
under hese circumstances that a society like the present
proclaimed that the time had gone by when scholars should
walk the streets of London without finding a roof under
which they could rest their head*, and when the books of
authors—the implements and tools of their craft—could be
taken from their grasp for the liquidation of some small
debt.' The time was gone by when it was necessary for
authors to sacrifice the labours they had accomplished
for a small return in order to satisfy the requirements of
the hour, and, above all, when, for the exigencies of the
moment, they were -required to mortgage the future es-
says •of their t44lChoere.), Well, the principle of
the institutionwOJbesspund and true, which announced
that the author should not •be
.the victim of exigencies,
but should be soothed and "supported in those calamities
which no human prudence could forses or prevent, and,
being so supported, an author might pursue that career
of usefulness which the casualties to which he (Mr. Dis-
raeli) had referred would have interrupted. The prin-
ciple on which this institution was based was, then, a
sound a true principle—it was founded on the best feel-
ings of mankind, sanctified in the past, and consecrated
by the future. (Cheers.) He entered into this discus-
sion because it was their fate to live in an age of criti-
cism and cavil. (Hear.) His counsel to his friends was
alway this—never to avoid criticism, though they might
think it erroneous, and never to disregard cavil, though
they might think it contemptible. (Cheers.) He said
this, because they lived in an age of, discussion ; and
from discussion they should never shrink, for it was the
test of truth. (Applause.) Although he might be ad-
dressing those who did not require it to be proved that
Hercules was strong, still, upon this anniversary festi-
val of their institution, he did not wish to shrink from
this great test of its excellence, namely, the remembrance
of what it had accomplished. If they agreed with him
that the principle on which this institution was esta-
blished was sound, and true, and sacred, he would ask
them, to ascertain whether the application of that principle
by this society had been efficient and satisfactory. Here,
no doubt, he encountered a difficulty which no one ex-
perienced who had to address a popular assembly on sub-

F- •
pets, if not similar, yet of an analogous nature. He said,
if not similar, because he believed that there was no in-
stitution in the world like that whose fortunes he was

that day called on to advocate. But in institutions of
an analogous character one could appeal to the living
evidences of the effects of the institutions which people
were invited to support. One might appeal to those who
had been saved from sickness, from sorrow, from calamity
from disaster, and from death. (Hear.) He had no
witnesses to bring before them to prove the excellence
of their institution, whose highest merit and noblest
claim to regard was, that its deeds were secret. (Cheers.)
It was only those to whom was intrusted the fulfilment
of the duty of administering their funds—it was only
those who enjoyed the great honour of periodically fill-
ing that chair he now occupied— who could appreciate
the nature of their benificent services, and who could
comprehend to what extent, and over what period of
time, that institution had exercised the highest duties
and fulfilled some of the greatest claims of humanity.
(Applause.) This great metropolis, famous for many
things was famous among others for its collection of
manuscript treasures. He was now speaking in the
neighbourhood of the great repository of our treasured
literature' over which his hon. friend opposite (Sir Henry
Ellis) so efficiently presided. They might go to the
British Museum, to the office of State Papers—they
might search all the manuscript treasures which the uni-
versities were proud to possess, yet he told them
they would find no mass of records equal in interest or
importance to the archives of the Royal Literary
Fund. (Cries of " Hear.") He knew well what was
the popular opinion of those records. They passed
over a long period of time, and it was supposed that
they were records of ill-calculating and dissolute
individuals—of morbid vanity and ill-regulated sus-
ceptibility, and it was supposed that the feel-
ings of men had been engaged to contribute to the aid
and assistance of those who here, at the very best,
beautiful but eccentric examples of humanity. But no
mistake was greater than that. (Hear.) The condi-
tions on which their aid and assistance were distributed
were severe but admirable. (Applause.) They were
not conditions that depended on social opinion, or reli-
gious creed, or country, or on clime. (Cheers.) On the
contrary, the poet of Iceland and the grammarian of
Arabia, both scholars, had been relieved from the Lite-
rary Fund, and they all knew, he believed, that the
most distinguished author of the 19th century, after-
wards the Minister of one of the greatest Powers that
existed—the Minister of regal France—boasted in his
high place that as an obscure emigrant he received from
their funds the assistance which he not only appreciated,
but honoured. (Loud cheers.) Their society in its
character was cosmopolitan, still it had condition for its
bestowal of relief. These conditions were that the per-
sons relieved should be meritorious, and for 64 years
and more they had rigidly observed that rule. (Ap-
plause.) They had extended their charity, if he might
use that phrase, to the whole world, but they had at
least made this condition—that the aid should be de-
served. (Applause.) Let them look over their re-
cords, if the time should ever come when they all might
examine them, and there they would find no name un-
worthy, many distinguished, and some illustrious.
(Cheers.) The fact that year after year the power of
this institution had increased, while its claims had pro-
portionably enlarged, was alone an unmistakeable and
unanwerable testimony that not only the principle of the
society was a sound and true principle, but that the
manner in which it had been carried into operation was
wise, sound, discreet, and satisfactory. What had
happened during the last 64 years ? They were the
most important that had occurred in the history of
human nature. What had not changed during that
time ? The highest had disappeared ; convulsions and
revolutions had occurred ; the principles of human con-
duct—so far, at least, as political conduct was concerned
had been altogether reversed. Even the habits and
manners of nations were changed ; but the heart of man
was not changed. The effusions of that heart were
embodied in the operations and career of the Royal
Literary Fund. During that agitated time the rill, as
it were, only springing from the rock had gradually be-
come not merely a continuous, but an enlarged and
wide-spread stream of bounty and benevolence. All
things had suffered change, but the feelings that first
prompted the formation of! this institution, the genius
which originated it, and the sentiments which afterwards
induced contributions to its funds. Then, after this
fund had been established for 64 years, he wished to ask
whether they had any want of faith in the principle
which founded the institution, or in the manner in which
its resources had been dispensed ? He thought he might
look to that well-filled hall as a satisfactory response to
his appeal. (Applause.) He saw around him those
who by their presence were determined to show that
they were resolved to rally round a great principle—the
great principle which founded this society, and to sup-
port its wise and generous administration. He begged
them to believe that it was impossible to form any idea
of what were the functions of the literary fund, even
from the able documents which were placed in their
hands. It was not from those printed reports that they
could form even the faintest conception of what were the
duties and offices of the institution,. He knew well the
anionnt of contributions might be stated, and the mode
in which those 'Contributions were distributed ; but the
duties of that institution were not to be performed
by the collector or the clerk. (Hear, hear.) Those
who were entrusted by their confidence with the distri-
bution of this fund had something else to do besides re-
ceiving subscriptions and drawing checks. (Hear, hear.)
The claims on their fund must be investigated with the
utmost delicacy, and the resources they might place at
the disposal of those to whom they confided them must
be administered with a tenderness which only gentlemen
—and gentlemen, too, of refined taste and habits—could
exercise towards recipients of peculiar sensibility. They
had not to deal out alms. (Applause.) They had to offer
tribute, and an imperfect tribute, to the suffering from
society which the sufferers had endeavoured to improve.
They must visit the suffering author in his abode ; they
. must do more than assist him in his pressing need—they