Your account of the London Institution has delighted and tantalised me. I wish I were a professor! But the printed paper is too general to admit of any discussion. You do not say how many and who are to be professors. It may surely be a little more solid than the fashionable nerves of Albemarle Street could endure without ceasing to be popular. In 1806 ‘the attempt to make the Institution fashionable’ by means of the number and quality of the lectures seemed to attain the success that Mr. Bernard desired. There was an increase of nearly 3,000_l._ in proprietors’ shares and in subscriptions. The debt of 2,000_l._ formed in 1802 was paid off, and the sum in the funds amounted to nearly 4,000_l._ The library was completed by a separate subscription; this amounted to nearly 7,000_l._, of which about 5,000_l._ was spent in books. With the exception of the Professor of Moral Philosophy the same professors were this year re-elected. In the report of the visitors in 1807 the following statement of the lectures and of the general result of the management in 1805-6 and in 1806-7 is made: +------------------+--------------------------------+---------+------+ | | |Number of| | | Lecturers | Subjects |Lectures.|Season| | | | Season |1806-7| | | | 1805-6 | | +------------------+--------------------------------+---------+------+ |Mr. Davy | Geology and Chemistry | 22 | 28 | |Mr. Allen | Natural Philosophy | 25 | 32 | |Rev. W. Crowe | Poetry and Dramatic Poetry | 21 | 24 | |Rev. T. F. Dibden | English Literature | 10 | 12 | |Rev. J. Hewlett | Belles Lettres | 8 | 8 | |Dr. Crotch | Music | 13 | 25 | |Rev. E. Foster | History of Commerce | -- | 8 | |Mr. Douglas Guest | State of the Fine Arts in Spain| -- | 4 | |Mr. Wood | Perspective | -- | 9 | |Dr. Shaw | Zoology | 12 | 12 | |Dr. Smith | | | | | (afterwards | | | | | Sir James) | Botany | 14 | 14 | |Mr. Craig | Drawing in Water Colours | 8 | 8 | |Rev. Sydney Smith | Moral Philosophy | 14 | | |Mr. Opie | Painting | 6 | | |Mr. Landseer | Engraving | 4 | | +------------------+--------------------------------+---------+------+