ry can dwell,--if it is then brought forward,
the immediate answer is, The affair is out of date--the thing is gone
by--it is too late to call in question a transaction so long past. Thus,
if a man is interested personally, he is unfit to question an abuse;
if he is not, is it probable that he will question it? and if,
notwithstanding this, he do so, then he is to be accounted a meddler. If
he is insulted, and complain, he is told to wait until he is cool;
and when that period arrives, he is then told he is too late. If his
remonstrance relates to the alteration of laws which are never referred
to, or only known by their repeated breach, he is told that any
alteration is useless; it is perfectly well known that they are never
adhered to. If it relate to the impolicy of any regulations attaching to
an office, he is immediately answered, that that is a personal question,
in which it is impossible to interfere--the officer, it seems, is
considered to have not merely a vested right to the continuance of every
abuse, but an interest in transmitting it unimpaired to his successors.

In the same spirit I have heard errors of calculation or observation
defended. If small errors occur, it is said that they are too trifling
to be of any importance. If larger errors are pointed out, it is
immediately contended that they can deceive nobody, because of their
magnitude. Perhaps it might be of some use, if the Council would oblige
the world with their SCALE of ERROR, with illustrations from some of the
most RECENT and APPROVED works, and would favour the uninformed with
the orthodox creed upon all grades, from that which baffles the human
faculties to detect, up to that which becomes innocuous from its size.

The offices connected with the Royal Society are few in number, and
their emolument small in amount; but the proper disposition of them
is, nevertheless, of great importance to the Society, and was so to the
science of England.

In the first place, the President, having in effect the absolute
nomination of the whole Council, could each year introduce a few
gentlemen, whose only qualification to sit on it would be the high
opinion they must necessarily entertain of the penetration of him who
could discover their scientific merits. He might also place in the list
a few nobles or officials, just to gild it. Neither of these classes
would put any troublesome questions, and one of them might be employed,
from its station in society,