“_August 30th, 1815._—At the last meeting of the Committee of the Institution for the Education of Deaf and Dumb Children, established in this town a few years ago, my father was elected to the office of secretary, and I am to be sub-secretary, for which I am to receive a salary of £20 per annum.” About this appointment he thus wrote in later years:— “This post I gladly accepted, as it would make a very handsome addition to my pocket money. I soon found, however, that the duties were by no means merely nominal; the current labour being considerable, and the minutes, from the commencement of the Institution, which existed only in rough, having all to be transcribed. This appointment was very useful to me, as I was called upon to transact semi-public business, and was, moreover, at the meetings of the committee and elsewhere, brought into contact with men whose superior attainments made me feel keenly the necessity for increasing my own. This post I retained until the increasing demands of the school compelled me to give it up.” In the summer holidays of the next year (1816) he made with some of his companions a tour in Derbyshire. He thus describes two of the views that he saw:— “The views in this valley, varying at every step, are extremely beautiful. Sometimes the river is pent in between the surrounding hills, and the eye is at a loss to discover the passage by which it enters or leaves the valley. Proceed a little further, and the spectator is enchanted with the long perspective of woody hills and barren rocks between which the rapid Derwent pours its foaming waters.... As we sat with the window open to enjoy the freshness of the air, the massive outline of the opposite rocks, just distinguished through the gloom of night, and the silence of evening, which was only broken by the low murmur occasioned by a fall in the river, created very pleasing sensations in our minds. It was a kind of _silence hearable_, if I may be allowed to use a parody.” They went to see a great chasm in the earth called Elden Hole. It was, as they learnt on the way, enclosed by a wall:— “The woman went with us who keeps the key. On the road we entered into a discussion respecting the right of the landholder to lock up such a place, which debate was interspersed with many learned remarks respecting the equality of birthright, &c., but when we came to the hole we were unanimous in agreeing that it was for the good of the neighbourhood that it should be very securely fenced.... We threw several large stones down the hole. The noise which they made was at first very loud; it then ceased, as though the stone had lodged upon some projecting part of the rock; directly after the noise was continued, but less loud; then it became a long unequal moan, which imperceptibly died away.”