"KNOWLEDGE IS PLEASURE."
Boyne Cottage, 16th October 1844.
MR. SPECTATOR—The following sonnet, suggested by the formation, some, months back, of a Literary Society and Mechanics Institute in our.little town, may perhaps (although you dislike sonnets) find acceptance with you, if not for the poetry, yet for the sentiment, tallying as it does in tone with some of your later lucubrations in the "Topics of the Day." The establishment of such a society as the above, in so small a country-place as "our town," was a somewhat doubtful experiment ; but one, nevertheless,, which, to judge from past progress and present appearances, promises to be com- pletely successful It consists of mechanics, shopmen, tradesmen, professional:- persons, one or two neighbouring country squires, and even one clergyman. Thus there is what you denominate "a fusion of classes,"—tantamount pro• bably, in the apprehension of some prejudiced people, to a confusion ; but from which, to my thinking, good-will and harmony are far more likely to ensue. In the Directorial Committee are one or two mechanics. I cordially agree with Lord Joue MANNERS in opinion, that working-people should always have a share in the management of such institutions. lam, Mr. Spectator, your obliged, humble servant, THOMAS NOEL. SONNET ON THE FORMATION OF A LITERARY SOCIETY AND MECHANICS INSTITUTE IN A SMALL TOWN.
We meet together for a common good : All narrow interests, all distinctions nice, Sectarian pique, and party prejudice, Yield to a sense of Christian brotherhood : Pure is our purpose ; rightly understood, It seeks to spread a counter-charm to vice; The mind's improvement is the pearl of price For which we strive. Like sun-spots in a wood, Golden and bright, great truths begin to gleam Through the dark umbrage of the world, and we Would fain diffuse them ; for no more we deem That ignorance is bliss, or purity The child of blindness: we would have the streams Of knowledge flow for °amen, full and.free.
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