APPENDIX.

IT has been thought that some more particular information may be desirable, respecting Lyceums, and the introduction of them in this County, than could be given in the preceding discourse, consistently with its plan or the time allotted for its delivery. The following selections and remarks, therefore, are added by way of an Appendix.

In Feb. 1829, a public meeting was held in Boston, consisting of members of the Legislature and other gentlemen, at which a committee was appointed to collect information concerning Lyceums in this Commonwealth, and report at a similar meeting to be held during the ensuing session of the Legislature. At this second meeting, held Feb. 19, 1830, his Excellency Governor Lincoln presiding, committees were appointed for the several counties, to collect and diffuse information on the subject of Lyceums, and to report at another meeting during the next winter session of the General Court. At a general meeting of these county committees, a central committee of Massachusetts was chosen, of which the Hon. A. H. Everett is chairman, for the purpose of corresponding with the committees in the several counties. The first circular of this central committee has just been issued, and contains, among other things, the following authentic summary information concerning Lyceums.

"A Lyceum is a voluntary association of persons for mutual improvement. The subjects of their inquiries may be, the sciences, the useful arts, political economy, domestic economy, or such other matters as are best adapted to the wants, or inclination, or employments of the members, and may vary according to times and circumstances. The more frequent topics, thus far, have been, the exact sciences, in their application to the arts and purposes of life; with others of a practical nature, and such as are profitable to persons of different classes and ages.

"The regulations of these associations are few and simple, and resemble those which are adopted in small benevolent societies. The

officers are, usually, a President, Vice President, Treasurer, Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretary, and Managers, who, together, constitute a Board of Directors.

"The exercises of the Lyceum, are, familiar lectures froin men of education in the town, or from other members who investigate particular subjects for the occasion; also, discussions and debates. In some small Lyceums, or in the classes into which the larger are divided for occasional purposes, the exercises are free conversation, written themes, recitations, or mutual study. The lectures are sometimes procured at the expense of the Lyceums; more frequently they are given by the menbers, and in this case, are always gratuitous.

"The persons who associate are of any age, and from any class in society, sustaining a good character; all who are in pursuit of knowledge, more particularly the young and middle aged. The system is specially adapted to teachers of every grade; the more advanced pupils in the various schools, and enterprising young men already engaged in business, who have done with schools, but who thirst for more knowledge. Ladies are invited to be present at the lectures and discussions, not as active members, but to participate in the benefits.

"The meetings are in the evenings, usually at intervals of one or two weeks; but are, in most places, suspended during the busiest part of the summer season.

"It is highly important to the efficiency of a village Lyceum, that its inquiries be aided by apparatus. The more simple and cheap kinds are procured. Early foundations have also been laid, for interesting collections of minerals and other cabinets of science. Many Lyceums have valuable libraries for the use of their members. In some instances, these have been formed anew, and in others, a union has been effected with social libraries, already existing an arrangement which, it is believed, will be found profitable to both parties.

"Associations, under the name of Lyceums, were first formed in the south part of the county of Worcester in the autumn of 1826; though some existed before on a similar principle, under other names. They have been gradually extending in this State to the present time. The number of town Lyceums reported at the public meeting was 78; in Suffolk county, 1; Essex, 14;* Middlesex, 16; Norfolk, 6; Plymouth, 4; Barnstable, 3; Nantucket, 1; Bristol, 2; Worcester, 23; Hampshire, 2; Hampden, 3; Franklin, 1; Berkshire, 2. The information received was incomplete, particularly in regard to the four western counties.There are County Lyceums in Worcester, Middlesex, and Essex counties. A county Lyceum is composed of delegates from such town Lyceums as choose to unite; the union is formed for some purposes of

* At present 18.

common interest, and meetings are held once or twice a year. It is but an association of Lyceums, as a town Lyceum is of individual persons.

"A Lyceum is easily formed in almost any country village or neighborhood. It requires two or three active, enterprising, matter-of-fact men, to collect their friends together, take hold of any topic of common interest, adopt a few regulations, and go to work. There is nothing mysterious, nothing difficult, in the process, if the members have only a desire for knowledge and improvement, and each resolves to do his own part in suggesting topics, promoting investigations, and solving inquiries. The social principle is brought into active operation; and where energy and promptness are the order of the day, a Lyceum becomes a most profitable school of mutual instruction.

"The advantages of this kind of association, where the experiment has been faithfully tried, are great and obvious; but they cannot here be named. The committee, however, can venture the assurance with perfect confidence, that the American Lyceum promises a very extensive diffusion of practical and useful knowledge. Their beneficial influence is soon manifest, in the improved character of schools and teachers, in the mental habits of all classes engaged in them, and in the elevation of the moral and social character. It would afford the committee peculiar gratification, to be able to announce, at the close of the year, that every town in the Commonwealth has its Lyceum in full operation, and every populous neighborhood, its branch or class in connexion with the Lyceum of the town.”

In the County of Essex, public attention was not particularly drawn to the subject of Lyceums, till near the close of the year 1829, when a number of gentlemen, from different parts of the county, met at Topsfield, to consult together concerning the formation of a County Lyceum. At this meeting, it was judged proper to postpone the formation of such an institution, till Town Lyceums should be more generally introduced; and a committee was appointed to address a circular letter to gentlemen, in all parts of the county, setting forth the nature and importance of these institutions, and recommending the establishment of them in their respective towns. The committee was also authorized to fix upon the time for a meeting of delegates from such Town Lyceums as might be formed, and to prepare a constitution to be submitted to them, for the purpose of establishing a County Lyceum.

At the time appointed by the committee, which was the 17th of March last, delegates from seventeen Town Lyceums assembled at Ipswich, and were organized as a County Lyceum, adopting the constitution, which the committee had prepared. According to this constitution, the Essex County Lyceum is composed of delegates from the several Town Lyceums; and its object is to advance the interests of these

local institutions, and promote the diffusion of useful knowledge through the county. The officers are a President, two Vice-Presidents, a Secretary, a Treasurer, and ten Curators, who together constitute a board of Managers. Semi-annual meetings are to be held in the months of May and November; the time and place to be determined by the board of Managers, at each of which a public address is to be delivered, previous to the commencement of business.

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Each delegation from the Town Lyceums, at these meetings, is to present a written report of the condition and usefulness, proceedings and prospects, of the Town Lyceum which it represents. Such report to specify the methods of instruction adopted by the said Lyceum, the subjects of the lectures delivered, the questions debated, the number of meetings, the times and places of meeting, the number of tickets disposed of, and, in general, all such facts and circumstances, as may be interesting and useful." No delegation is to be recognised without such a written report. The secretary is "to compile from the reports of the delegations a general report, and circulate it to the Corresponding Secretaries of of the several Lyceums, to be communicated by them to the bodies to which they respectively belong."

It is the duty of the Curators "to facilitate and provide for an intercommunication of lectures, and an interchange of civilities and accommodations between the Town Lyceums." The constitution may be altered by a vote of two thirds of the members present at any semiannual meeting, the alteration having been proposed at the semi-annual meeting next preceding. It was determined by the delegates that the meeting in May should be considered as the annual meeting; and that an introductory Address should be delivered at the first annual meeting, to be held on the first Wednesday of May, at Ipswich.

The circular letter of the Committee appointed to prepare the constitution, contained an able exposition of the circumstances which call for the institution of Lyceums, and the benefits which would result from them.

"Every one who looks over the surface of our towns, (say the Committee) must be convinced that there are many minds among us, endowed by nature with brilliant faculties, and framed by their Creator for great usefulness and honor, which pass through their earthly existence enveloped in the darkness of ignorance, and untouched by any springs of improvement; without shedding light upon truth, without giving an impulse to knowledge, and without offering a motive to virtue.

"It is the opinion of the Committee that this lamentable waste of intellectual resources, of the treasures of mind, may to a great extent be prevented. They think that much might be done towards this end by the establishment of LYCEUMS in the several towns. Such institutions,

organized with a just and careful reference to the condition and circumstances of the places in which they propose to conduct their operations, cannot fail, if supported with zeal and guided by discretion, to work out invaluable results. They will call forth latent talent, encourage a spirit of study and inquiry, and give a predominant relish for a purer and nobler kind of entertainment and recreation, than ́our people are at present accustomed to seek. It would not be long before it would be discovered that there is no amusement so worthy of our patronage, or, in itself, so conducive to our happiness, as that in which the curiosity of the intellect is awakened and gratified, and the mind exercised in the rational, invigorating and delightful employment of drinking in new and refreshing draughts of knowledge."

"In our most populous towns there are many gentlemen whose professional pursuits and extensive attainments would enable them to diffuse among their fellow-citizens, in the form of popular lectures, information of the most valuable kind. The exercises at Lyceums would afford opportunity to industrious, ingenious, and intelligent individuals to spread far and wide throughout the community, knowledge which, by being buried in public libraries and in ponderous volumes, is at present accessible to a few only. There is no class in society that would not be benefited by the operation of these institutions."

"The importance of scientific knowledge to persons engaged in the several mechanical and manufacturing trades, must be apparent to all. In the operations of their business, in the use of their materials, in the construction and action of their machinery, the principles of natural philosophy are to a greater or less extent continually unfolded and applied."

"There is no class of men, who stand in greater need of instruction in science, or who could make a more effectual use of it, than the cultivators of the soil. In the fields, which they are called to till, they would find occasion for all the information that can be obtained from agricultural chemistry; in their gardens and orchards they could make a most pleasing and profitable application of the knowledge of botany. An acquaintance with the principles of mechanics would facilitate the use, and quicken invention in the improvement, of their implements of labor. Indeed, from all the departments of natural science they could derive agreeable and useful information. It is impossible to conceive, much more to describe, the benefits which would result to the whole country, by the advancement that would be made in practical husbandry, in consequence of the wide and general diffusion among our agricultural population of the principles of useful science."

"The attention of our intelligent, enterprising, and patriotic citizens is at present prevailingly directed to the developement of the internal resources of the nation, by the means of surveys, canals, railroads, and