The Sun.
London, England, 1846-11-07 00:00:00

MARKET INTELLIGENCE.

(From the London New Price Current of Krovembet 6.)
SUGAR.—To-day there was no increase in the demand for
raw or refined Sugar for home consumption, notwithstanding
the hurricane in the llavannah ; but holders were not in-
clined to press sales. West India Muscavado was purchased
with caution by refiners and grocers, the private sales
amounting to only 160 hhds and tres ; but holders succeeded
in obtaining prices on a par with those of Friday last.
REFINED.—To- day Refined goods met with little attention
from the home trade, and there were sellers of brown lumps
at 63s 6d to 65s 6d, and standard lumps 65s 6d to 60s per
cwt. Bonded Crushed Sugar bas been in good demand at
32s 3d t• 32s 6d per cwt for first sort.

EAST INDIA.—This afternoon Bengal Sugar was not pur-
chased with increased freedom, still 4,354 bags at auction
were nearly all sold at the former value, but not above.
MAURITIUS.—This afternoon 5,703 bags at auction were all
taken in and withdrawn 3s above the value, buyers not being
inclined to pay any advance.
MOLASSES.—This afternoon West India Molasses met with
little attention, and 56 puns St. Lucia at auction were taken
M at 22s 6d, which is lower.
__ _

FRUlT.—Yesterday was offered at public sale 52 butts 5
crtls 7 brls Cephalonia Currants damaged, all sold from 63s
to 555. The arrivals of Currants and Valentias have been
large this week. Cephalonia 555, Patras 56s to 575, and Va-
lentias at 465, are taken rather freely, one cargo having
been sold entire at 455. The demand for fruit generally has
been rather considerable this week; but further large ar-
rivals are daily expected.
RICE.—To-day at public sale 190 barrels of Rio Tapioca
were only in part sold at 41,4fd to 41,0 for fine white.
FOILED:IN.—There has been only a limited business trans-
acted by private treaty in Foreign Sugar of any description
for exportation, and none has been offered at public sale, but
holders are firm and insist upon even stiffer rates, although
the stock is heavy.

COFFEE.—Today there was little passing privately in
Foreign Coffee, and 215 brls of Rio at auction was mostly
taken in rather above the value.

Coco,,..—West India has met with little attention pri-
vately, although there are sellers rather under previous
rates ; at auction 60 bags Grenada were sold at 38s per cwt
for middling red. The stock is still heavy, and nearly
double of what it was at this time last year, and the delive-
ries keep on a small scale only
SPIRITS.—There has been a considerable increase in the
demand for all descriptions of Jamaica Rum this week,
and an advance in the value of 2d per gallon has
taken place ; the business transacted has been extensive.
Leeward Island has been largely dealt in, and prices have
risen 3d per gallon. Demerara is wanted, and stiffer rates
are offered, but business has been checked by
the mall sup
ply at market. Calcutta has been in good req -
1;. Brandy andini
have risen to 2s 3d to 2s 5d for Calcutta pro() y has
been in excellent request, holders evince firmness;oe the stock
is diminishing and the deliveries are yet on
good demand,isandprices extensive.
FGnern Geneva t
ihs
na s
made
ens
Spirits the demand unusually
English Corn at 119 ad, Scotch and Irish his 2d to Ils 3d
per gallon. in good
Although the home trade operate with caution
in Bengal, and export orders being unimportant, yet mer-
chants manifest firmness, and insist upon fully last sale's
rates ; indeed some will not sell, excepting at a small advance.
Madras, however, has met with attention, and several parcels
have been sold, chiefly by the Canada market, at a rise OR
the rates of the last quarterly sales of 2d to 3d.
SALTPETRE.—To-day Rough met with little attention, and
1,115 bags of Calcutta at public sale were taken in at 25s
to 25s 6d for 10i per cent. refraction of mid damp grey
quality, which is the full worth.
Ons.—This afternoon at public sale 328 casks of Palm Oil
were sold at 34s to 40s, and 78 casks Cocoa Nut Oil at 35s 6d
to 42s per cwt. .

TALLOW.—This afternoon at public sale 171 kegs 539 bags
of Hudson's Bay Tallow sold at 49s to 49s 9d ; 341 casks
Petersburgh Soap Tallow 46s 6d to 47s 3d ; 16 casks second
sort Yellow Candle 48s to 48s 6d per cwt.

----
JUVENILE PREACHER.—During several nights of
the past week sermons have been preached in the Town
Hall by a boy of only ten years of age. A good many
people attended through curiosity to hear so young a
teacher of righteousness, who certainly displayed ac-
quirements not often attained at his early years. The
boy is very smart, and delivers his discourses with
wonderful ease and volubility, and if they are his own
productions one would be induced to call him a. preco-
cioas genius. Be that as it may, he has asto!ushed not
a few. The reason given for his thus appearing before
the public is, that money may be obtained to further his
education.—Kelso Chronicle,

EDINBURC:OI PHILOSOPHICAL
INSTITUTION.
Ennenunon, Ti atraso.ly Moe...wilco —Last !t-ennag,
soirée, with an abundant supply of c fruits, wine.
&c., was held in th e) Music-hail, to celebrate the estab-
lishment of the Philosoph'_cal Instit'ition. About 809
ladies and gentlemen were accommodated at the tables
placed in the body of the hall; the gallerles and spacious
orchestra were alsosAled with a well-dressed audito_ryt.,n
The Lord Provost occupied the chair, s
" P Pb°ll Dublin, c Pro
the right by his Grace the Archbishop of
fessor Wilson, Lord Cuningliame, Mr. Fox ADluaule,'M.P ,
Mr. William Gibson Craig, M.P., Prodfeossnor Nichol, Dr..
the left were,
Maclagttn, Rev. Thomas Guthrie; Dan
the Right Hon. T. B. Macaulay, P Lord Murray,
the Rev. Dr. Robert Lee, Mr. 1). m. M-oir (Delta), Pro-
fessor Gregory, Professors More, Professor Pillans, &c.
Dr. LEE having said gace, the Lord Provost gave in
succession the usual preliminary toasts,,, all of whicp
were heartily responded to; that of Her Majesty s
Ministers," though proposed without accompanying re-
marks, was followed by loud and prolonged cheers.
The LORD PaoyosT then rose, and spoke as follows:
Though not altogether unaccustomed to public speaking,
I never rise to address even a small and friendly
audience on subjects with which I may be supposed
to be familiar, but with diffidence and hesitation. I
blay, then, be excused for an oppressive feeling of in-
adequacy to speak on subjects in regard to which I
am only a scholar on the lowest form, before an
audience so numerous and intellectual, and in a presence
so exalted in dignity and in talents.—(Applause.)
But for the accidental circumstance of my position, it
would have been presumption in me to have attempted
to grapple with the topic entrusted to me by the direc-
tors ; yet, however feeble my endeavours, I yield to
none in good wishes for the success of this and kindred
institutions.—(Renewed applause.) Edinburgh has been
long renowned as a seat of learning, and as the resi-
dence of distinguished philosophers, and the inhabitants
have not failed to profit by the brilliant lights which
shone in the midst of them. From the opportunities
afforded by her educational institutions, even the
humblest ranks of her sons have had the treasures of
literature and science laid open to them ; the pupils
have communicated of their acquisitions to their families
and associates, so that, as a community, her citizens have
earned a reputation for literary taste and general intel-
ligence.—(Great applause.) If, however, we have at-
tained an honourable position among the cities of the
empire, to keep our place we must advance with the
onward progress of society. Other towns are establish-
ing literary and scientific institutions for the general
benefit ; the standard of information among all classes
is perpetually rising. Unless we open the fountains of
science, and avail ourselves of the streams of know-
ledge, we must submit to take an inferior rank among
cities. Our sons may trade for a short time upon the
reputation and capital of their forefathers, but unless
thoroughly educated and trained for the more respon-
sible situations in life, their places will be occupied
by others who have more diligently improved their
talents.—(Hear.) The Edinburgh Philosophical Asso-
ciation commenced some fourteen years ago for the
purpose of giving the members an opportunity of
hearing lectures on literature, science, and art by men
distinguished in their various walks. The last whose
voice was heard amongst us was the gifted but unhappy
Haydon, who was listened to with profit and pleasure,
when eloquently unfolding the history and principles of
the pictorial art, and whose cheerful conversational
powers enlivened our social circles, while, alas 1 a
wounded spirit was fatally preying upon his too sensitive
mental constitution. It has been resolved to enlarge the
sphere of the association, and to add to the system of
lectures a library and reading-room, that the information
communicated by the lecturer may be extended and
more accurately appreciated by study. The education
of the man is not completed when he leaves the walls of
the school or the college, he has received there only the
discipline and training which by giving strength and
flexibility and habits of exercise to his faculties prepare
him for educating himself. The drilling he had received
fits him for the active campaigns of life; but to secure
success he will have daily to combat subtle and power-
ful enemies, he must resist the seductions of slothfulness
and sensual pleasures, he must subdue the strongholds
of prejudice and error, strengthen his intellectual and
moral powers, and extend his mental domains.—(Ap-
plause.) Do I hear any one say the study of literature
and science may be very appropriate for those who are to
follow the learned professions, but it only tends to distract
the attention of the industrious classes from their proper
business and to make them discontented with their con-
dition? If the thirst for knowledge should stir up in
some ardent minds cravings and longings after more in-
tellectual occupation, is it matter of regret that such men
as the elder Herschel should have relinquished organ
playing for astronomy, and added a new planet to our
system? that Arkwright should have neglected the busi-
ness of the razor for the study of mechanics, and in-
creased the wealth and power of Britain by the inven-
tion of the spinning jenny ? that Franklin should have
left the manual labour of the printing-press for litera-
ture, philosophy, and legislation, should have taught us
to draw down the lightning from Heaven, and assisted
in giving a free constitution to his country ? or that
Watt should have annihilated time and space by the
triumphs of the steam-engine ?—(Applause.) It may
be that some ill-regulated spirits may be diverted from
their proper sphere to attempt at flights beyond their
power of wing ; but if such ill-balanced minds had not
taken an erratic course in this, is it certain they would
mat have flown off in another and less honourable direc-
tion ? The legitimate tendency of this and similar in-
stitutions is not to make the industrious classes discon-
tented with their condition, but to qualify them more
thoroughly for succeeding in whatever branch of in-
dustry they are engaged. Knowledge of the countries
with which he trades, of their productions and capabi-
lities, of the manners, habits, and wants of the inhaba-
ants, is necessary for the merchant, and the more ample
and accurate his information regarding the various
countries of the globe, the greater will be the probabi-
lity of success in his adventures ; and is it not the same
with the manufacturer, the agriculturist, the mechanic,
and the artisan ? What wonders have been accom-
plished in our manufacturing districts through the in-
structions of natural philosophy ; for art is only the ap-
plication of knowledge to a particular end.—(Hear,
hear.) From reluctant soils and trackless moors on
which an ignorant and sluggish tenantry formerly toiled
and starved, the increased science of the agriculturist
has extracted rich and abundant crops, and quadrupled
the value of the land ; and still greater triumphs remain
to be achieved by the farmer when better instructed in
the powers of nature.—(Applause.) There is no class,
not even the humblest, whom increased knowledge will
not benefit even in their ordinary occupations and do-
mestic arrangements. More widely diffused information
will discover to the operative more efficient and quick
methods of completing his work—will lead to the proper
ventilating of houses, increased cleanliness, improved
health, and general comfort.—(Applause.) Islighly im-
portant as is the diffusion of knowledge for the promo-
tion of the arts and the increase of physical enjoyment,
it claims a still higher place in our estimation when its
moral results are considered. The tendency of true
knowledge to purify and elevate the mind ; and the
mere exalted the nature of the knowledge, and the
greater the amount of acquisition, the greater will be
the advance of the man in moral excellence. The man
whose mind lies waste and uncultivated, rank with pre-
judice, dark and sluggish through ignorance, is much
more likely to become the slave of passion and
appetite than the man who contemplates the ob-
jects of nature around him with a discerning eye,
who perceives with admiration the harmony of
its parts, the skill and efficiency and aptness
of its contrivances who sees, as his sphere of
observation extends, new wonders continually opening
upon him in increasing abundance and surpassing his
comprehension, till, lost in light ineffable, he is com-
pelled to feel and acknowledge his own insignificance in
the scale of creation, and to adore that unsearchable
power and intelligence which governs the universe. (The
Lord Provost concluded by giving " The Philosophical
Institution," which was received with great applause, and
drunk with all the honours.)
The Archbishop of DUBLIN' who was loudly cheered,
proposed, as the next toast, "The Cause of Education."
His speech was very much a recapitulation of the one de-
livered by his Grace at the Manchester Athenaeum.
The flight Hon. T. B. MACAULAY, on presenting
himself to propose the next toast, was most loudly
cheered. When the cheering had subsided, he said—
Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you from my heart for
this kind reception. I have thought it right to steal a
short time from duties not unimportant, for the purpose
of lending my aid to an undertaking eminently calcu-
lated to raise the credit and promote the best interests
of the city which has so many claims on my gratitude.—
(Cheers.) The directors of this institution have re-
quested me to propose to you, as a toast, " The Litera-
ture of Britain. (Cheers.) They could not have
Designed to me any part in these proceedings more per-
fectly in harmony with the view which I take of the
nature and objects of this institution.—(Cheers.) It is,
I conceive, an institution for the purpose of imparting
knowledge, chiefly through the medium of our own
language and of our own literature. Your city is
already rich in libraries worthy of her fame as a seat of
learning, and as a seat of jurisprudence. A man of
letters can have no difficulty here in finding access to
repositories of learning filled with the varied wisdom of
many ages and of many countries. But something was
still wanting. We still wanted a library readily ac-
cessible to that large, that important, that respect-
able class which, though by no means destitute of
liberal curiosity or of sensibility to the highest powers
of genius, is yet necessarily compelled by the pressure
of daily avocations to confine its studies almost
entirely to our own language. For that class I will not
say exclusively, but I conceive especially, this library is
intended. I hope the directors will not be satisfied, I as
a member shall certainly not he satisfied, until we pos-
sess a truly rich and complete collection of English
literature—(Cheers)—until it is impossible to seek in
vain on our shelves for any English book which is valu-
able either by reason of the substance, or by reason of
say light which it may throw on our civil, ecclesiastical,
Intellectual, or social history—a collection of everything
In the English language which can afford useful instruc-
tion or harmless amusement.—(Cheers.) From such a
disposed
n to all that valuable class I have
6°lnelirtitoired,"l4,2
Ana when I sayer' th Ised to expect very great good.
do not at present take into ac-
count those rare and e
valued friend, the extraordinary cases to which my
strikingly
alluded: in Provost, has so happily and
that some indeed, remember that it is not impossible.
qualified to en-
rich our literature with durable genius'
or to extend the
empire of man over mattetri,lemeeawyPorksss'ibly for the first
iiiescinonutsness of powers
time feel in our library
impossible that
et undeveoped.—(Cheers.) It
In our reading-room the first thought of somethin
or may cross the mind of some Herschel,WWat,tt, g great
Ark-
wright ; but I speak not of these rare and el'
What I do anticipate is, that through the pwLulelaorres.
valuable class whose benefit we have pecumariyult
view, Owe will be produced a general intellectual, and

(i)e rawl
in consequence,
im-
provement--that hat
linaorn,yariudoboresliezehleatigeont.Frorls
have b p1.7:•e(1 in folly, perhaps in VI be era-
oat have a nositive tendency to elevate the ployed either in pleasures which not only are h,arrule.,-3,
Our own experienc,., leads tr 3 to think this.
cha-
racter.
MY own observation in varipus part; of the werld,
and among various classes of men, lead; me to hold this
opir ion strongly. I nave, as you may now, had occa-
sion officially to form some notion of what those causes
are which ta,ct the moral and intellectual character of
regiments, and I will venture to say there is no ex-
perienced and judicious officer who will not tell you that
the whole character of a body of young officers may be
most materially affected for the better by the mere cir •
cumstance of being placed in the vicinity of a valuable
library.—(Cheers.) I can myself give instances which
have fallen within my own knowledge of this fact. I
was myself told by a most accomplished man—a man
who was an eminent soldier, an eminent diplomatist,
who enjoyed the ttc4lsdence of the first generals and
statesmen Europe has pf,3:Y4a911 in our own time—when
I asked him to what he owed those a,2eonsplishments, Le
said this—" When I served as a young man in India,
and when it was the turning point of my itfv—when it
was an even chance that I should be a card-playing,
hookah-smoking, punch-drinking lounger—l was quar-
tered for two years in the neighbourhood of an excel-
lent library which was made accessible to me."—
(Cheers.) Some objections which have been urged
to the species of mental cultivation which we trust this
institution will afford have been so happily and satisfac-
torily disposed of by my esteemed friend the Lord
Provost, and my most reverend friend the Archbishop,
of Dublin, that to these I should think it very super-
fluous to advert. 'I here is, indeed, a topic which has
often, and sometimes by men of eminence, been
urged against this and simiar institutions, which I
may beg your permission to notice. Their dread is
of superficial knowledge. They say, " Knowledge
is undoubtedly a great blessing to mankind ; it is closely
connected with virtue ; it is an indispensable preparative
for freedom, but then it must be profound knowledge.
A reading public, a crowd of people who have a little
mathematics, a little astronomy, a little chemistry, a
little reading of poetry, a little history, is dangerous to
states ; such a species of half knowledge is worse than
ignorance itself. Drink deep, or taste not ; shallow
draughts intoxicate ; drink largely—that will sober
you," repeating the well known lines of the poet. I
must confess this danger never appeared to me very
threatening, and for this reason, chiefly that I never
could prevail on any one of those persons who enter•
tained such apprehensions to let me know what was his
standard of profundity.—(Cheers.) The argument pre-
supposes that there is some line between profound know-
ledge and superficial knowledge, similar to the one which
runs between truth and falsehood. I know of no such
line. What is the standard of profundity ? When we
say that a man is deep in science, do we mean that he
has got to the bottom of it, or near to the bottom of it ?
When we talk of deep and shallow, are we comparing
human knowledge with the vast mass of truth which is
capable of being known, and which, probably, in the
course of ages, human minds actually will attain ? If
that be the meaning, then we are all shallow together—
(Cheers)—and the greatest men who have ever lived
would be the very first to confess their shallowness.—

(Cheers.) If we could call up the greatest of all human
beings, if we could call up and ask Sir Isaac
Newton whether, even in those particular pur-
suits in which he attained the highest excel-
lence, he considered himself as profoundly knowing
by comparison with the mass of that which
is capable of being known, he would have told you
that he was a smatterer like yourselves, and that the
difference between him and you was nearly vanished
when compared with the difference between the mass of
science, just as the distance between a person standing
on the level of the sea and a person standing on the top
of Ben Lomond utterly vanishes when they are making
observations on the fixed stars.—(Cheers.) But if this
is not the standard, what is the standard? Is it the
same', in all ages? Was it ever the same for a genera-
tion together? Is it the same in any two countries? Is
it not notorious that the profundity of one country is the
shallowness of another—that the profundity of one gene-
ration is the shallowness of the next? What would now
be the profound chemist of 1746 —what the profound
geologist of 1746? There is a natural, a necessary pro-
gress, in every experimental science, of such a nature
that in one generation the hind rank occupies the same
place which the fore rank occupied in a former genera-
tion. It is the same with countries. The same know-
ledge which entitled Ramohun Roy to be called the most
profound of the Hindoos, would have made, permit me to
say, but a very superficial member of this institution.—
(Cheers.) The very knowledge of geography which en-
titled Strabo to be culled a profound geographer, would
be considered the shallowest ignorance on the part of a
girl from a boarding-school. The truth is, a change
takes a place, as in Gulliver's wanderings. The first
is shipwrecked in the country of little men, of only
six inches high. Immediately he is a colossus among
them ; he strides over the walls of the capital ; he
stands higher than the temple ; he stretches
his legs, and whole: armies march in' columns
between ; he devours for breakfast a whole granary
of corn and a whole herd of cattle. But in a little
while he finds himself in the country of giants; then he
who in Lilliput took the people up in his hand to hear
them speak, is himself taken up in the hand by one of
his masters; and now, was Gulliver a tall or a short

man?—(A laugh.) Why, truly at his own house Ibe
lieve he would have passed for neither one nor the other.
At Lilliput he was man-mountain; but move him to
Brobdignag and he is Gulliver, the little manikin
again.—(Cheers and laughter.) The intellectual giants
of one age become the intellectual pigmies of the next;
and if those effects which are said to flow from shallow
knowledge really flow from it, it must have been one of
the very greatest of all evils, that, in the thirteenth
century, fur example, there should have been such a
thing as a profoundly learned man. It strikes me that
you might, without much difficulty, make a parallel be-
tween the most profoundly learned man of the thirteenth
century and one of those who, we hope, will pass their
evenings in our library, which would'inot be altogether to
the advantage of the profound, and might lead us, per-
haps, to change the names of profundity and shallow-
ness. Try the parallel in one or two points. Take
your great learned man of 600 years ago (at the time of
Henry 111., or Alexander 111. of Scotland), some one
considered first in intellectual attainments, first in
science, first in literature in the whole island, and let us
see to what his attainments amount. Take him in the

two sciences which were then, as ever, studied with
care, assiduity, and which were munificently patronised
in the middle ages let us take him as an
astronomer and a chemist. A firm believer in
the Ptolemaic system, one who never heard of
the law of gravitation—tell him that the succession of
_ .

night and day is produced by the revolution of the
earth on its axis—tell him that the polar diameter of the
earth is shorter than the equatorial, and if he does not
set you down as an idiot the probability is he will report
you to the bishop to be burnt as a heretic.—(Cheers.)
But if not perfectly informed on the points, there are
others in which undoubtedly he has made great profi-
ciency—he can casta nativity for you.—(A laugh.) He
knows perfectly well what is meant by Saturn being in
the house of light ; and what events are portended by
Mars being in conjunction with the dragon's tail ; and
he can tell by these events which of your children will
be fortunate in marriage and which of them will
be lost at sea.—(A. laugh.) Now, compare this man
with one of your shallow persons, whose exceedingly
superficial knowledge is so dangerous to their moral and
intellectual character. I doubt not that in our library
will be found at least one copy of Sir J. Herschel 's
beautiful volume on astronomy ; a very few evenings
passed in the perusal of that volume will not indeed
enable our friends to cast the nativities of their children,
but will give them, I believe, a far more correct and a far
more profound notion of the solar system ; and of the laws
that govern the heavenly bodies than the greatest astro-
nomer of the 14th century possessed.— (Cheers.) Or
take chemistry ; our great man—for we will suppose
him a great man ; we will suppose him to be a uni-
versal genius—our great man of the 13th century is
a great chemist. Ile has perhaps got just so far—
the very pillars of Hercules of his chemical know-
ledge—he has got so far as to know, that if you mix
charcoal and saltpetre together in certain propor-
tions, and rut fire to them, a great explosion will take

place. But of the possibility of applying these powers
to make a revolution in the art of war, in fortification,
to perform any scientific operations, he has no concep-
tion. There are things with which he busies himself
perhaps beyond the reach of modern chemists. He is in
full chase after the philosopher's stone.—(Laughter.)
Lie has an array of furnaces with saltpetre and red and
white oil burning night and day, and he entertains the
firm conviction that by means of these stews he will
some morning turn all his pots and pans into gold.—
(Laughter.) Now, suppose—l heartily hope it u ill be
the case—suppose that Professor Faraday comes here
and gives at your lecture-room the lectures I heard him
give to the little children during the Christmas holidays
at the Royal Institution; I cannot promise you he will
teach you to turn your halfpence into sovereigns, but I
do promise that you will carry away from those lectures
a very much more correct and profound knowledge of
chemistry than a chemist who could have been consi-
dered deserving the patronage of kings could possibly
have given with years of study in the 13th century
(Cheers.) So it was in science; but when we turn to
literature is it not much the same? With respect to li-
terary knowledge—with respect to knowledge of great
masterpieces in composition—compare the position of
our supposed learned man of the 13th century and that
in which the superficial student in the library of this in-
stitution will be placed. As to Greek, they are on a
par—for neither the one nor the other would possess any;
and with respect to the vernacular, no great writer had
yet appeared. The only literature of such a man was
Latin. He might have had a great many manuscripts.
Suppose his library well furnished, with some 40
Latin manuscripts—suppose he has a considerable
portion of really the best books in the Latin lan-
guage, the best specimens of that literature, and I
say with perfect confidence that his opportunities of en-
larging his mind, his means of literary enjoyment are
not to be named with those you possess in the English
language. Such a man could form no notion of tragedy
and no idea of comedy as you can from Shakspere;
he had no epic poem within reach of " Paradise Lost;"
and as for all his dialects, one passage of the " Novum
Organum" would be worth it all.—(Cheers.) One of the
great advantages which those possess who, though they
are ignorant of other tongues, are well acquainted with
the English language and have a good English library
at their command, is this, that to a great extent it is in
their power to enjoy, in an imperfect manner, but still
to enjoy, the great productions of the minds of other
times and other nations. We have a great variety of
translations. It is scarcely possible that translations
should completely attain to the excellence of the ori-
ginal; but it is not the less true, that as to the main
features of every great work—the conception of charac-
ter, the general plan and outline—a very large
_portion
may be preserved. Sack works will give to the English

and of other coon trits; such a notion as a
reader a notion ef the a.reat compositions of other times
1
person who
ha. :lever been able to travel to Italy imey liase, of the
Repletels in the Vatican irons a vaivabio cellection of i
eng-ravings.—(Ciaeers.) There is no translation so bad :
as that some part of the genius of Homer, some part of
the genius of Cervantes, does not shine through it.
Thus-we conceive that a literary person, possessing only
the English language, may, through the means of Eng-
lish versions, enlarge his mind by attaining no small de-
gree of knowledge of the style, the manner, the views
of the great men of other ages and countries.—(Loud
cheers.) Let me not be misunderstood as in the smallest
degree to deprecate the study of the ancient or modern
languages of Europe. Far from it. I would advise no
man who has leisure and opportunity to bo content un-
less he can obtain several of these most valuable sources
of knowledge. I would impress on every young man
the saying of Charles 'V., who knew several foreign lan-
guages, that he " never learned a new language without
feeling he had got a new soul."—(Cheers.) But at the
same time I may be permitted to felicitate my country-
men not GO foitunate as to have the command of leisure
for this purpose, that through the English language they
may obtain means of intellectual wealth more precious
than the greatest seholars in the days of Charles V.,
and greater than Aldus, Erasmus, or Melanethon them-
selves enjoyed.—(Cheers.) This brings me back to the
toast I have to propose—to British literature—(Cheers)
—to that literature, the proudest, the purest, the most
durable of all the glories of our country—to that lite-
rature rich in all the treasures of truth and of fiction—
to that literature which beasts of the prince of all poets,
and the prince of philosophers—to that literature which
has exercised on mankind a mightier influence even than
that of our commerce and our arms—to that literature
which has taught France the principles of liberty, and
which has furnished Germany with models of art—to
that literature which constitutes a tie even nearer than
blood between us and the great commonwealths in the
valley of the Mississippi—to that literature before the
light of which impious and cruel superstition is fast
taking flight on the banks of the Ganges—to that Rte.
rature which will, in future ages, instruct and delight
unborn millions, who will then have covered with cities
and with gardens the Australasian and Caffrarian de-
serts—to " the Literature of Britain"—and, wherever
British literature spreads, may it be attended by British
virtue and by British freedom.—(Great cheering.)
The Rev. Mr. GUTHRIE proposed " The University of
Edinburgh."
Professor Tlioxso.sr, M.D., " The Lord Provost, Magis-
trates and Council, Patrons of the University."
The LORD PROVOST, " The Archbishop of Dublin,"
who briefly acknowledged the compliment.
Dr. S. BROWN, " The Progress of Science."
Mr. D. M. Mont proposed the next toast. He said,
the toast I am about to propose is one which I am sure
will be received with enthusiasm, not from anything I
can say regarding it, but simply for its own sake. I
repeat this with confidence, when I announce that my
toast is the health of the Right Hon. Thomas B.
Macaulay.—(Prolonged cheering.) When we consider
the characteristic peculiarities of the Scottish people,
perhaps the highest honour which Scotland could confer
on any one would be the selection of that individual, on
account of his genius, his talents, and his high character,
to be the representative of its metropolis in the great
council of the nation. For such a person did Edinburgh
seek. and such a person did Edinburgh find in the dis-
tinguished man I have just named. In him she found
combined the legislator, the orator, the historian, the
critic, the philosopher, and the poet ; in him she found
a man who
" Had multiplied himself among mankind,
The Proteus of their talents."
—(Cheers.) In Mr. Macaulay's presence I dare do RO
more than allude to his vast and varied attainments, to his
brilliant talents, to his unwearied business habits, and to
his having secured for himself a high place among the
great classics of England.—(Cheers.) I shall in conclusion
simply allude to one topic as being that by which Mr.
Macaulay has associated himself with this institution—
I mean the great cause of national education. When
we consider the position of the British Isles on the map,
we must be at once aware that by intellect has the su-
premacy of Britain among the nations been won, and by
intellect alone can that supremacy be maintained. By
education men have ceased to be mere " sons of the
soil," mere hewers of wood and drawers of water ; by
education men have felt themselves to be rational and
responsible beings—creatures into whose nostrils God
has breathed the breath of an immortal spirit ; by edu-
cation men have become jealous of their civil and their
sacred rights, they have walked with features more erect,
and when they trod the ground their feet have "brought
from the soil the source of liberty." It is absurd, there-
fore, to say that the mind can be ever over-educated, or
that man can have too much light, either regarding him-
self—so fearfully and so wonderfully made—or of the
world in which he is placed, where, whether he examine
the wild flower beneath his feet with the microscope of
Loewenhoek, or the planet that sparkles in the blue
canopy above him with the telescope of Lord Rosso, he
can only be thereby the more convinced of his own in-
significance, and of the wisdom, the power, and the
beneficence of Him who created all things.—(Much
cheering.) Need we ask a better or stronger illustration
of Mr. Macaulay's devotion to this great cause of national
education than the fact of his having travelled 400 miles
to be present at the opening of this institution ? I beg
to propose " the Health of Mr. Macaulay." (The toast
was drunk with great enthusiasm.)
Mr. MACAULAY, in reply, said—lt would be unpar-
donable in me to detain you with more than a single
word; and in truth the best expression of the feelings
which I entertain is the briefest and the simplest. lam
sure you will not doubt the gratitude with which I have
seen the manner in which the last toast so proposed has
been received by you. I can claim no praise on the
ground of having performed a journey of 400 miles for
the purpose of appearing before you.—(Cheers.) I am
more than repaid by the pleasure I feel in addressing an
assemblage of the citizens of Edinburgh, not upon sub-
jects which divide wise and good men, and about which
even wise and good men can seldom differ without some
bitterness of feeling. Most of the occasions on which I
have appeared before great assemblages of the citizens
of Edinburgh have been of such a kind, and I feel to-
night very much more than repaid for any exertions I
have made in order to be present by having the oppor-
tunity of seeing so many of you actuated by one spirit,
and in retiring from among you thinking that we can all
congratulate each other on one common victory.
" The Royal Scottish Academy and the Fine Arts,"
proposed by Dr. D. Maclagan ; " The Directors of the
Philosophical Institution," by Professor Gregory; " The
Health of Professor Wilson," who proposed, in an elo-
quent speech, " The Memory of Sir Walter Scott;"
" The Health of Mr. W. G. Craig," who gave " The
High School, and other Educational Establishments;"
" The Kindred Institutions of England," by Professor
Nichol; " The Health of the Chairman," by Lord Cun-
inghame; and " The Ladies," were afterwards proposed,
and the meeting separated at about eleven o'clock.