You have heard, no doubt, that I was employed as draftsman to the Royal Institution at its first formation, and was besides engaged by Count Rumford to take the management of a school for mechanics which he then proposed to establish. In order to overcome the scruples of some of the managers of the Institution on this subject, as well as to give a specimen of my abilities for conducting such an establishment, I addressed a paper to Count Rumford in August 1799, in which I gave him my opinion of the kind of school which would prove most useful to the public, and also entered into a detail of the plan which I proposed to follow. This paper, which the Count read at the meeting of the managers, was highly approved of, and I had then every reason to expect that something would be done which would be creditable to the Institution and useful to myself. I was induced in consequence to give up the school which I then had, and which promised to answer pretty well. But, after remaining some time in suspense, I found some reason to be apprehensive that those who are at the head of an Institution which professes to be a grand and national establishment were not altogether possessed of that liberality of sentiment and knowledge of the subject necessary for carrying into effect plans which can only be accomplished by those whose industry has made them acquainted with the arts and sciences taught. In short, I saw but little prospect of its being done in the way I wished, and I had no desire to engage in it otherwise. I am not certain that the plan has been entirely abandoned, but I think it is not likely to take place. In 1837 Webster gave the following account of the intention to form an industrial school at the Institution: