On this page

• Text (1)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    keeper , f givi ng security for his fidelity and attendance at such times as they jappoiat . " In a parexidieaia he intimated that a young preacher seemed to him the fittest for such a

    situation ; but by not binding thein with respect to the object of their choice , submitted it to their discretion . When the trustjees found themselves in circumstances which permitted them to carry the fqunder ' design for a public library into execution , they

    appointed a . deputation to examine several buildings and situations which were jreooixunended as well adapted to their purpose ; but none of them met with their approbation . At length , in September 17 ^ 7 , they purchased the piece of ground in Ked-Cross Street on which the pjresent

    building sjtands , for the sum > sf four hundred and fifty pounds , and appointed a committee to consult with proper perspns respecting the erection pf such a house , and to procure an estimate of the requisite expense . The estimate ^ delivered in to them

    amounted to fifteen hittidrpd and eighteen pounds , which ih 4 y were © mppwered by the Court ot Chancery Jto appl y to tfye purpose out of the founders estates . However , owing to mismanagement somewhere or other , the -yvfyole money was expended before the building was nnishea , and

    the trustees were compelled to desist from its completion . Thus circumstanced , they consulted about the propriety of making application to the Court of Chancery , for leave to appropriate an additional sum from the Doctor * s estates ; but weTe dissuaded by their legal advisers from adopting

    such a measure . xhey afterwards agreed , at a general meeting on the *^ 5 th of March 1 ? 29 , to circulate the following notice among their members , with the view , doubtless , of its being communicated to their friends . *• Pr . Williams * s Library , being

    near finished , some additions of general advantage to the common interest it + s Apprehended , m * y be made upon th £ faundajion of tti * t building , con-&istfept with the Doctors design of additions and of general use , which will xe ^ uire a cons iderable expense , and yt $ cannot be defrayed out of his estate ^ ccox 4 iRg to the ^ o ^ nq « ma ^ e by * h ? Court of Clvancery fqr , meeting the libroy . ^ K *^ % ^ P 2 ^^ * £ **

    Untitled Article

    service , would contribute w ^ iat thev see proper for such a service . " ^ TL his appeal to Hberal-miriSed men fully answered their expectations . On * gentleman defrayed the expense of wainscoti ng and furnishing the roo m on the left hand next the outer door now the librarian ' s parlour ; another paid for the iron gates arid iron palisades before the windows ; a third

    expended upwards of forty pounds contributed by himself and friends ' in finishing two stalls in the librarya charitable society ( most probably the managers of the presbytcrian fund ) paid upwards of sixty pounds for titting up and furnishing what is now called the committee room : and

    various gentlemen contributed sums of money towards finishing the library and useful additions to the buiUjing . The names of Thos . Hollis , Esq . ; Joseph Andrews ,, Esq . ; the

    Rev . Dr . Samuel Wright ; Samuel Lessingham , Esq . ; the Rev . Mr . Neal ; the Rev . Mr . G . Smith ; the Rev . Mr . J . Newman ; and the Rev . Jos . leaves , are conspicuous in the list of benefactors oil this occasion .

    B y such honourable exertions was this building completed to the state in which it continued till about the year 1760 , when two of the trustees , Mr . South and Mr . Bowden , worthily emulated tile liberal deeds of their predecessors , by presenting the ma * hogany glaied book-cases in the large front room , as well as the mahogany

    glazed doors " to that room and the library . Within our Own times , the improved revenues of the founder ' s estates have enabled the trustees to render the whole establishment greatly more respectable and commodious . The trustees held their first meeting

    at the library on the 8 th of December 1729 ; and on the « Oth of April 1730 the first librarian w ^ ts chosen , ( with the original salary of ten pounds per annum , to which the trustees added fifteen pounds ) and the institution opened to the public under the reguht it

    lations which the trustees thoug proper to prescribe . Since that day great accessions have been made to it , by bequests of whole libraries , donations of mo ^ iey for the purchase of books , and tne reajpectable presents ot numerous individuals . Our linwts will not permit us to insert here the nances ot all the benefactors \ but w £ may be allo > irtd to tutotibn th # w

    Untitled Article

    38 O Abs tract 0 / " the History of Dr . WHfiams ' s Ttuft . *

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1816, page 380, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2454/page/8/