cherish those things! May her Mural Crown, now only designating Protection, Dominion, and Strength, be enriched by Science, decked with her gems of intellectual light! May her happy shores be the acknowledged abode of the Muses, as they are of the Graces! May Commerce and Literature be the twin offspring of her care, nursed as it were in one cradle, trained together in the same pursuits, entwined in friendship, and uniting their strength for the glory of the Empire, the stability of the Throne, the perpetuity of our glorious Constitution, and the prosperity of the People! And may the blessing of Almighty God rest upon the work, that in future times, when all of us shall be mute, and most of us forgotten, this Edifice may be the glory of our children's children, and the lasting union of Commerce and Literature in this City, be the happy means of making her Merchants, in their education and in their success, Princes, and her Traffickers the truly honourable of the earth."

The Lord Mayor then took the silver trowel that was prepared for him, and proceeded to the masonic labour of laying the Stone.

After the completion of this part of the ceremony, the procession returned through an innumerable crowd, that had collected on the occasion, to the City of London Tavern, to hear the Inaugural Address. The spacious and elegant room of the Tavern was brilliantly lighted up and prepared for

the occasion, and was already thronged with genThe Lord Mayor,

teel company of both sexes.

the Noble President, Sheriffs, &c. and the various Officers of the Institution, having taken their seats, the Address was delivered by CHARLES BUTLer, esq. Barrister at Law, the standing Counsel to the Establishment.

THE INAUGURAL ORATION,

MY LORD MAYOR,

MY LORD CARRINGTON, President of the

LONDON INSTITUTION,

and GENTLEMEN,

Every person, who heard the eloquent and dignified address of the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor, on his placing the First Stone of the London Institution, must join me in regretting that, to his many other attentions to the Institution, His Lordship does not add that, of addressing you, on your return from the Interesting Ceremony. This, the Managers of the Institution have desired of me; and, in obedience to their wishes, I now request

your attention to a few words, which I shall offer to your consideration, on the Advantages, which Science and Commerce derive from each other. But I beg leave to premise what I shall say upon it, by a short account of the Formation of the Institution, and the Views of those, with whom the design of it originated.

I.

About ten years ago, some Gentlemen of high. rank in commerce, and distinguished by their enlarged and cultivated understandings, projected the Institution, on whose account, You have this day been convened. Considering the mercantile eminence of their country; persuaded that, whatever increases the splendor, increases equally the strength and activity of commerce, and contemplating the example of almost every other European nation, they thought it due to the dignity and glory of the Empire, that her Commercial Metropolis should be. graced by a Literary and Scientific Institution, on a liberal and extensive plan. They judged, that such an Establishment would bring Science and Commerce into contact, and that, by their approximation, each would draw forth and invigorate whatever there might be of latent energy or power in the other.

Under this impression, they submitted their views to the consideration of their fellow citizens, and solicited the co-operation of their munificence. The

design was universally approved; and a subscription of about 70,000l. immediately raised, within the walls of the City of London, and her Commercial Environs. The portion of land, which has just been honoured with your presence, was purchased from the Corporation of London, with the view of erecting upon it a building, suited to the purposes of the Institution. I am authorised to add, that the Gentlemen, who treated with the Corporation for the purchase of it, speak, in high terms, of the liberality of their proccedings.

Presuming on this liberality, and addressing myself to it, may I, an unauthorised individual, intimate an humble wish-(but a wish generally entertained),

that some arrangement may be made with the Corporation of the City of London, by which the Gresham Lectures, shall be attached to the London Institution? and, in conformity to Sir Thomas Gresham's wise and beneficent intentions, thus made really and actively conducive to the general diffusion of Science and Literature. This must be the wish of every one, to whom these are dear; or who reverences the memory of the venerable founder of the Lectures; or who feels the respect always due to the ashes, which still speak, of the illustrious dead.

II.

That the Union of Science and Commerce produces public and individual happiness, and elevates, in the rank of nations, the countries that are blessed with them, would, if it required proof, be better shewn by history than argument.

The spacious provinces, which now compose the Ottoman Empire, were once the seat of Science and Commerce. Then, they were dignified by wisdom and valour; and, for a long time, were the fairest portion of the Christian world. Of their Science and Commerce they were deprived by their invaders; and, in consequence of it, sunk into a state of abject misery, which no tongue can adequately describe:-Large territories dispeopled, goodly cities made desolate, sumptuous buildings become ruins, glorious temples subverted or prostituted, true religion discountenanced and oppres sed, all nobility extinguished, violence and rapine exulting over all, and leaving no security, except to abject minds and unlooked on poverty *. Such is the state of a country, which hath lost her Commerce and Science. Would you behold a country in the full possession of them ?-Contemplate your own :-the number and magnificence of her cities, the high state of her agriculture, the activity of her manufactures, the easy intercourse between all parts of the nation; her grand foundations, both for

• See Sir George Sandys' Account of the Ottoman Empire.