“_November, 1821._—Since February, which is the date of the last entry in this book, I have delivered two lectures before the Society for Literary and Scientific Improvement; one on Comets and the Asteroids, the other on the Fixed Stars. “We have adopted a plan of electing a committee which secures a very exact representation of the whole body. Every member is returned by unanimous votes, and he may be recalled at any moment by a resolution of the majority of his constituents, who may then return another representative, but this must be done by a unanimous vote. Very much to my surprise, I was the first member elected.” The plan of election had been devised by his father, who, as I have already said, was strongly in favour of the representation of minorities. I have before me a copy of the laws of this society. The tenth, in which the mode of election is described, I give below:—[31] On a loose sheet of paper that I have found, I find the following statement:— “The objects proposed in arranging the plan of choosing the Committee are:— “1st. A fair representation (as near as can be) of all the classes of which the general body is composed. “2nd. Responsibility on the part of the members of the Committee. “To obtain the first of these objects, it has been provided that each member of the Committee shall be chosen by a _section only_ of the society; and, as will appear upon examination, opportunity is afforded, in forming the sections, for every voter to class himself with those whose views most resemble his own. “To obtain the second object, frequent elections are appointed, and to every section of the society is secured an undoubted right to the services of one individual member of the Committee. Added to this are the provisions that the proceedings of the Committee may be attended by any member of the society as an auditor, and that a public register is to be kept of the attendance, or non-attendance, of each member of the Committee.” Some months after the Society had been founded Rowland Hill made the following entry in his Journal:— “The Society for Scientific and Literary Improvement has gradually increased in numbers and importance ever since its establishment. We have had some excellent lectures, and I always look forward to the night of meeting with pleasure. I am still a member of the Committee. Our time has been very much occupied in revising the Laws, which we have now printed. At the request of the Committee I wrote the Preface which is annexed to the Laws.[32] If the Society should ever become numerous, which now appears probable, I am confident, from the form of its constitution, that it will become a formidable body.” In the following passage in the Preface, its author was stating, no doubt, the difficulties which he had himself undergone:—