whom the friends of general education are under greater obligations than to Henry Brougham, Esq., who, amidst numerous avocations, and the distractions of a laborious profession, has steadily devoted his attention to the subject. His able and eloquent appeals, his energetic and indefatigable exertions, have produced effects, and given rise to establishments, whose advantages will be more duly appreciated by posterity. Future ages will revert to, and ruminate upon, his pre-eminent services to his country with grateful admiration, and will rank him among the greatest of those who benevolently and disinterestedly endeavoured to elevate the character of man. Had he known of the beneficent labours of James Luckcock and Thomas Carpenter, and their coadjutors, at the time he wrote his "Practical Observations upon the Education of the People, addressed to the Working Classes and their Employers," his candid and manly and generous spirit would have deemed them of too much importance to pass unnoticed. But, from a note in that useful and interesting address, it appears that he derived his information respecting Dr. Birkbeck's scheme from a letter of Mr. D. Bannatyne, which appeared in the Mechanics' Register; and he states that as early as 1817, the latter gentleman had recommended an extension

* January, 1825.

of Dr. Birkbeck's plan, in Mr. Napier's Encyclopedia. The Moral Lectures of Mr. Luckcock were published at the beginning of 1817; they were printed in 1816, and the preface is dated December, in that year; at the end of his work he gave a concise account of the origin, progress, and success of the plans which had been pursued for the education of the working classes in Birmingham, for thirty preceding years. However, obvious and well known as they were in that town, all these circumstances might be utterly unknown to Dr. Birkbeck.

The following facts, though known but to a few, may perhaps be considered as rather striking, when connected with others of a more recent date. About the year 1804, Dr. Birkbeck delivered a course of lectures on Chemistry, by subscription, in Birmingham; and a very respectable individual, who was peculiarly ardent, active and persevering in scientific pursuits, and also very earnest in his endeavours to diffuse a taste for them among the artizans within the circle of his acquaintance, voluntarily and gratuitously assisted Dr. Birkbeck for some weeks in preparing and making the experiments exhibited in those lectures. This person was one of those who had acquired his taste for this kind of knowledge by casually attending some of the lectures which have been before alluded to; and he was, moreover, the coadjutor of Mr. Luckcock

in the management of the largest manufactory of its kind in the town of Birmingham. Besides, this very individual was an evidence of the attainments of a person who had devoted a part of his leisure only to scientific subjects; he could hardly be excelled in the elegance and skill displayed in the construction of his own apparatus, and as an experimenter he was at that time far superior to Dr. Birkbeck. From the zeal which the latter has exhibited in London in promoting the establishment of Mechanics' Institutions, is it to be presumed that he could be in almost daily intercourse with such a character as the above, in a town where its numerous manufactures abound in chemical operations, and not make any inquiries respecting the means employed for instructing the working classes of Birmingham? If he did not inquire, would it not argue a want of curiosity in a person professedly so zealous for the instruction and improvement of mechanics? And if he did. inquire, did he obtain that satisfactory information which would be entitled to notice? syllable, however, has ever publicly transpired upon this subject, and therefore it must be inferred that nothing was known!-These remarks are made not with a view to depreciate the valuable labours of Dr. Birkbeck, but do not justice and candour imperiously dictate the assertion of the prior and superior claims of James Luckcock,

Not a

Thomas Carpenter, and others in the town of Birmingham, to the establishment of institutions for the education of the working classes? It is a pleasing reflection, that, excepting one person,* all those who so zealously and disinterestedly engaged in this noble work of enlightening the working classes of Birmingham, still live to enjoy the ineffable gratification of witnessing the effects of their own benevolent exertions to benefit society. Unostentatious as were the labours of this little band of patriots, they have been strikingly effective, and eminently entitle them to the respectful and grateful attention of their country. What the writer of this has stated respecting Dr. Birkbeck's Lectures at Birmingham is from his own personal knowledge, for he was on that occasion one of his hearers, and also intimately acquainted with the other individual alluded to..

Mr. Thomas Phipson: his amiableness of disposition, his extensive information, and the urbanity of his manners, conciliated the respect of all parties. Though mild, he was intrepid, and fearlessly asserted what he believed to be truth, always resolutely pursuing that course of action which was dictated by an inflexible regard to rectitude and honour. He and his friend Thomas Attwood, Esq., served the two principal offices of the town of Birmingham, about the period when the celebrated orders in Council, and the throwing open a free trade to India, were agitated; and the liberality of sentiment and conduct displayed by both, afforded an admirably impressive example to their fellow-townsmen.

THE HISTORY

OF

THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS

OF

GAS LIGHTING.

CHAPTER I.

THE FIRST NOTICE OF COAL GAS BY THOMAS SHIRLEY, ESQ., THE HON. ROBERT BØYLE, and dr. STEPHEN HALES.

AMONG the diversity of subjects which agreeably occupy attention, while they afford a rational gratification to the mind, the most interesting are such as relate to the progress of human improvement. The history of discoveries in science, or inventions in art, must therefore be deserving of particular regard; for genius is here exhibited unfolding her energies and displaying the variety of her resources. Important facts, or new objects, are continually rising to view, which, like the recitals of the enterprising traveller through an unexplored country, either excise admiration or satisfy curiosity. In short, the detail of such circumstances may be considered as a portraiture

B