182 
Barnard took up the idea with great zeal; and 
several meetings took place at Mr. West's house, 
at 
which 
Charles 
Long 
and 
Sir 
Abraham 
Hume were present, which terminated 
formation of that association that now 
in the 
consti- 
tutes 
the 
British 
Institution, 
in 
Pall 
M 21111 
Long 
undertook 
t0 
confer 
with 
Pitt, 
who was then again in power, on the subject, 
and the proposal was received by him with 
much apparent sincerity. But a disastrous 
series of public events about the same time 
commenced : 
the attention 
of the 
Minister was 
absorbed in 
and he fell 
the immediate peril of the state; 
a victim to his anxieties, without 
having had it in his power to further the objects 
of the association.  
At 
came 
death of his 
oflice; and 
the 
into 
great rival, Mr. Fox 
he s0on' after called 
on Mr. West, and, reminding him of the con- 
versation in the gallery of the Louvre, said, " It 
is my earnest intention, as soon as I am firmly 
seated on the saddle, to redeem the promise that 
I then made." But he also was frustrated in 
his 
intentions, 
and 
fell 
21 
sacrifice 
t0 
disease,"