X PREFACE TO other memorable political events, we may challenge any era in the history of the world to produce a catalogue of the twentieth part of the noble institutions which have characterised and conse- crated this auspicious reign : of these, some have successfully promoted every elegant arts and others every useful science. Painting, statuary, and engrav- ing have been brought into fresh ex- istence under the royal patronage ; the application of chemistry and mechanics to the purposes of common life, has been attended with unexampled success. Sig- nals at sea have been reduced to a science; the telegraph has been invented ; mili- tary tactics are said to have been carried to their utmost perfection. Among the gentle arts of peace, the study of agri- culture, which the king loved and culti- va' ed, hasbecomeone among thefavourite pursuits of our honourable men. The time would fail to recount the numberless domestic societies of every conceivable description established for
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