Let us therefore trust that Providence will prosper our exertions in so holy a cause, and that (under the auspices of our Queen and Her Government) we may at no distant period be rewarded by the accomplishment of the great and humane object for the promotion of which we have this day met. LITERARY FUND, 1842. I 1. PROPOSE the health of the Queen, who highly appreciates the tendency of this Institution, and sincerely interests herself in its welfare. "THE QUEEN, OUR MUNIFICENT PATRON." 2. I return you my warmest thanks for the great kindness with which you have received this toast. It will always be most gratifying to my feelings to contribute in the smallest degree towards the welfare of any of the excellent Institutions which so prominently distinguish this country. 3. The toast which I have now to propose to you is the Prosperity of this Institution. It stands unrivalled in any country, and ought to command our warmest sympathies, as providing for the exigencies of those who, following the call of Genius, and forgetting every other consideration, pursue merely the cultivation of the human mind and science. What can then be more proper for us than gratefully to remember the benefits derived from their disinterested exertions, and cheerfully to contribute to their wants? I conclude with the ardent wish that the object for which we have this day met will be answered in the most ample and generous way. I am sure you will all gladly join me in drinking the health of our worthy President the Marquis of Lansdowne. He would not wish me to enumerate his merits as a patron of the Arts and Science, so well known to this assembly; but it is a satisfaction to me to have an opportunity of expressing how much I esteem them. "OUR PRESIDENT." THE CORPORATION OF TRINITY HOUSE. WITH much sincerity I return you my best thanks for the toast which has just been drunk. I feel a pride in the cause which makes me a guest this day with the Corporation of the Trinity House, to whose exertions in the discharge of your important duties this great country is so deeply indebted. That these exertions, upon which not only the good of the Mercantile Marine depends, but which have so essentially contributed to the welfare of the Navy, may in their various and important branches be always crowned with success, I warmly wish; and I cannot refrain from expressing how happy I should feel if by my admission into your Corporation I should ever be afforded the smallest opportunity of forwarding any of your objects. The distinguished honour conferred upon me this day, an honour aspired to and prized by |