Page:Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands.djvu/120

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BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 95

are adorned by many imposing statues. Among the great men thus distinguished, are Nelson, Pitt, and Wellington ; Walter Scott, on his doric column of eighty feet ; in the immediate vicinity, James Watt, the improver of the steam-engine ; and Sir John Moore, whose elegiac tribute by Wolfe will longer perpetuate his memory than the monumental marble.

The University of Glasgow is a noble institution. Its foundation was laid about the middle of the fif teenth century, by a bequest of four acres of land, and some tenements, by the house of Hamilton. Its spa cious halls were rendered more interesting to us by being thrown open for the important purposes of the great " British Association for the Advancement of Science," whose annual meeting had been appointed in this city. Hundreds of distinguished men, from dif ferent lands, were thus convened, and it was delightful to hear them presenting, day after day, in the respec tive section-rooms, the result of their discoveries, or unfolding their theories with earnest and varying elo quence. Here, also, we saw, for the first time, a gath ering of the nobility of Scotland, and occasionally heard speeches from the Marquis of Bredalbane, the Presi dent of the Society ; from Lord Sandon, Lord Mount- eagle, and others. The collateral interests of morality and benevolence were not overlooked by science, in this her proud festival ; and on the subject of pauper ism, and the best modes of affording it permanent relief, Dr. Chalmers repeatedly spoke with his charac teristic fulness and power. He has none of the grace-

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