[17]
These and other particulars connected with the cure and prevention of consumption are developed in two admirable essays on the disease by Dr. Beddoes; publications which no parent or person entrusted with the care of youth should be without. The spirit of laudable curiosity, and the diffusion of useful and ornamental knowledge, are kept alive and assisted at Bristol by another establishment of a more general nature than the one I have been describing to you; a public Library, founded originally by an individual, who bequeathed his collection of books for that purpose, since enlarged, and at present supported by regulations the most liberal and judicious. To become a member of this institution, it is necessary to pay five-guineas in the first instance, and one guinea annually; which gives a property in the books, transferable by sale, or devisable by will. Two large commodious rooms contain the collection, which, disdaining to be fettered by party prejudice, receives volumes written on every side, provided they have merit for their recommendation. The ante-room, or first apartment, is fitted up after the manner of the Bodleian and Manchester libraries, having presses for the books at right angles with the side of the room, and accommodations for the reader in the divisions between them; here are placed the
