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PREFACE.

THESE Lectures were none of them written originally, with any idea of their being printed; but I was requested, at the time of their delivery, to allow them to appear in the newspapers of the day; and it has since been suggested to me, that it might be useful to publish them in a more permanent form. A great portion of the matter is mere compilation from the works of other authors; and on looking over them to prepare them for the press, I have reason to believe that there are occasionally such extracts, of which I have lost the references. I trust, however, that they may serve the purpose for which they were, in a great measure, intended, viz., to assist in forming a taste for Literature, and Science, and Art, amongst the people of Canada. As yet we have scarcely any Literature of our own; but the great progress which Canada is making, and the growth of her Scientific and Literary Institutions, lead us to expect, that the day is not far distant, when from the Press of Canada there shall issue forth original works doing honor to her name, and worthy of comparison with those of other and older countries. And, in prospect of such a time, this little attempt of mine may, perhaps, have contributed, in a small measure, to have prepared the minds of a few additional readers to welcome the native Literature of Canada with grateful satisfaction.

SEE HOUSE,

Montreal, June 3, 1859.

LECTURE I.

INTRODUCTORY LECTURE.

DELIVERED IN THE MECHANICS' HALL,

BEFORE

THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND ASSOCIATION FOR YOUNG MEN OF MONTREAL,

ON MONDAY EVENING, FEB. 16, 1857.

BEFORE we enter upon those particular objects which have been arranged for the Lectures to be delivered on the Mondays of the following weeks for this Association, in connection with which I am to address you this evening, it may be useful at this the commencement, to enter somewhat into a dissertation upon the nature and intent of such Associations in general, and the principles upon which this has been formed, the members of which, I, as Patron, now address.

The Association is called the "Church of England Young Men's Association." This, like many other societies and associations for benevolent or religious purposes, of which we are every day hearing, is an institution of very recent date; and while many people are too easily interested in any such matters by the very attraction of their novelty, others are too apt to object to any new projects, especially religious associations on this very ground of their novelty;-whereas no valid argument, either for or against them, can be raised on this score; but their merits or demerits must be argued on different principles. The first com

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