22 DECEMBER 1849, Page 1

Contrasted with these vainer political agitations is the quiet visit

paid by the Bishop of St. David's to the Literary and Scien- tific Institution of Carmarthen. Dr. Thirlwall shows his accustom- ed liberality and shrewdness. The institution has hitherto been sup- ported mainly by Unitarians, though it has had the episcopal coun- tenance and subsidy. The Bishop's generosity, the concession paid to Welsh opinion in his learning the language of the Principality, and his volunteering a lecture drew a considerable audience. Every Dissenting minister in Carmarthen was present, and some bad come sixteen miles over Welsh roads. The subject of his volunteered lecture was not stated beforehand, but it proved to be among lectures what a charity sermon is among the orations of the Pulpit—a general recommendation of literary institutes, cif libraries, and of intellectual improvement for the people, with a particular bearing on the Carmarthen Institution : without such movement, he argued, the friends of order will one day have a difficult account to settle. This act of gracious zeal has made a very great impression in Carmarthen, and has certainly done nothing to diminish the influence of the Bishop or his Church, while it has directly stimulated the best influences. If we had more Bishop Thirlwalls, the Church would be safer and more useful.