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the honour of belonging to this body, will, 
nevertheless, enable us to maintain the accus- 
tomed brilliancy of our Exhibitions, and, con.-4 
sequently, to secure to us the approbation of a 
liberal and judicious public: 
" The Exhibitions are of the greatest import- 
ance to this Institution; and the Institution is 
become of great importance to the country.- 
Here ingenious youth are instructed in the 
art of design; and the instruction acquired in 
this place, has spread itself through the various 
manufactures of this country, to which it has- 
given a taste that is able to convert the most 
common and simple materials into-4 rare and 
valuable articles of commerce. Those articles 
the British merchant sends forth into all the 
quarters of the world, where they stand pre- 
eminent over the productions of other nations. 
" But important as this is, there is another 
consequence of a- more exalted. kind; I mean, 
the cultivating of  those higher excellences in 
refined art, which have never failed to secure- 
to nations, and tot the individua.lsA who have;