ABSTRACT

In his lecture for September 1750, ‘By what means may the conduct be form’d to Decency and Virtue?’, Dunckerley advises rst, ‘know thyself ’, and then describes how the society assists in this process. He explains:

What can be more Polite, more bene cial, or more Sutable [sic] to a Rational Creature than the Institution of this Society and the Erection of this Library? e man who dress’d and went out to loiter and gather up something to entertain a Mind too vacant may here nd Employment, he may here amuse himself with reading the Works of our greatest Divines Philosophers & Historians and I make no doubt, but that we shall be able (as our Subscription Increases) to furnish this Room with a Microscope and Telescope, that we may see the Minute Wonders of Gods Works, and take a view of our fellow Travelers around the Sun.4