the corner of College street to the brick dwelling house on the corner of George street, was, at this time, a high bank, sloping towards Benefit street, and probably still retained some traces of the original conformation of College Hill. The back part of it was on a level with the gangway on the east, now partly held up by the retaining wall at the rear of this building. On this eminence salutes used to be fired on the Fourth of July, from the guns of the United Train of Artillery, whose armory was on the opposite side of the street.

To the Providence Franklin Society was allotted the basement story, upon the following terms, they paying $3,000 to the Athenæum, and having perpetual occupancy of that portion of the building, with the condition that, if at any time within two years from its completion, they should find the rooms unsuitable for their accommodation, the Athenæum should pay them $1,500 on their removal; or if, from any adequate cause, they should remove after two years, then the Athenæum should pay them such sum, not exceeding $1,500, as might be agreed upon, they relinquishing all claim to any part of the building. The basement story was therefore constructed under their direction as to internal arrangements, and was for ten years occupied by them.

The Rhode Island Historical Society were to be accommodated in the east room of the upper or principal story, on condition that they contributed $500 to the funds of the Athenæum. For this reason a thick wall was built dividing that from the other por

tions of the building, and an independent entrance from College street was designed. But their right to participate in the occupancy of the building was afterwards waived, they preferring to build an edifice exclusively for their own collections.

The building was completed in the spring of 1838, and the Board of Directors first held a meeting there on the twenty-second of June. On the second of July, the Board, from a list of forty-five applicants, elected Stephen R. Weeden to the office of Librarian, and during the week following the books were removed to their new destination.

The dedication of the building by appropriate religious and literary exercises took place at the First Baptist Church, on the afternoon of July 11th. A procession, composed of various public bodies, the proprietors of the Athenæum and citizens generally, was formed at the library building, and, marshalled by Judge Thomas Burgess and Sheriff Roger Williams Potter, proceeded to the church, where a discourse was delivered by the Rev. Dr. Wayland, President of Brown University. Rev. Edward B. Hall officiated as chaplain, and odes, written for the occasion by Thomas P. Rodman and William J. Pabodie, Esqs., were sung by the Providence Glee Club. The discourse of Dr. Wayland was afterwards published by the Athenæum.

The building was opened for the use of the proprietors on the following Monday, July 16th. It was built in the most substantial manner, as is described in detail in the report of the Building Committee

appended to the third Annual Report. Its cost was about $15,000, and for the incidents of the building, excavations, embankments, fences, etc., about $4,000

The total receipts of the institution at its commencement, from donations, subscriptions, sales of shares, and contribution of the Franklin Society, were between thirty-three and thirty-four thousand dollars. Of this sum about $19,000 were expended on the building and grounds, and $5,000 invested in bank stock, leaving about $9,000 to commence the purchase of books.

For some time previous to the year 1849, the Franklin Society had contemplated leaving the basement story of the building, on account of serious injury to their collections from dampness and decay, an evil which had been increasing for years, and which they had frequently brought to the notice of the Athenæum, without, however, either party taking any definite action on the subject. In December, 1848, they gave notice to the Athenæum that they had obtained. the refusal of other rooms, and desired to relinquish their perpetual lease. Accordingly, the following agreement, reported by committees of the two associ ations, was made between them: The Athenæum were to pay to the Franklin Society $1,500, in consid eration of which the latter were to surrender the premises and all their right therein to the Athenæum.

By this arrangement the Athenæum came into possession of the whole building. Amply sufficient space was thus afforded for its growing wants and the unity of purpose to which the edifice was now appropriated

bestowed upon it, and upon the institution occupying it, an additional force and dignity. The new space thus acquired was mostly appropriated to the formation of a new reading room, for which immediate measures were taken to prepare it.

The early records and annual reports of the Board of Directors show that the project of founding and maintaining this library was taken up and carried forward with great energy and enthusiasm. It engaged the pecuniary aid and earnest sympathies and active co-operation of some of the most cultured and enterprising citizens. This is manifest from the names appended to the call for the preliminary meeting, and to the petition for the Act of Incorporation, the persons named as Corporators, the Board of Officers elected at the first meeting of the Corporation and of the Directors, and the subscribers to the fund necessary to secure the benefit of the Brown & Ives' Donation.

Perhaps it will be interesting to the proprietors to hear some extracts from the early reports of the Board, and from Dr. Wayland's dedicatory discourse.

At the close of the first report to the first annual meeting, February 27, 1837, the accomplished Professor of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres in Brown University, writes thus:

"We have embarked, under cheering auspices, in a noble enterprise. In the priceless benefits of this enterprise we and our children cannot fail to participate. Let us beware, then, how we indulge, at the outset, a disposition to shrink from its burthens. If

it be our aim to establish a library which shall not dishonor our city and ourselves, we must come up to the great work with warm hearts and with open hands. This work cannot be accomplished by spasmodic efforts, or by transient expedients. It demands for its thorough execution sustained and vigorous action-the devotion of spirit which is not repelled from its object by the labor of years. It should, morever, recruit our zeal in this noble cause, to reflect, that a public library is almost the only institution which, amid the agitations of society at the present day, can expect to escape either the machinations of craft, or the turbulence of faction; in other words, that an institution like the Athenæum is powerful for good, and incapable of being perverted, by any party, religious or political, to the purposes of evil. Let us, therefore, lay broad and deep the foundations of our library, sustained by the grateful confidence that we are laboring to elevate the social character of our city, to advance the cause of general intelligence, to diffuse throughout our borders the light of learning and of truth."

At the end of the second report to the second annual meeting, September 25, 1837, the same eloquent pen writes:

“ Public libraries are specially adapted to the wants of our people and to the genius of our government. We are, to a great extent, without amusements to diversify the forms of life in our American society. There is danger, therefore, lest multitudes who are fatigued by excessive action of mind and body in the round of common occupation, should, in the absence of innocent recreations, lapse into torpor, or engage in bitter strife, or sink into debasing sensuality. Το all such, and in our country they cannot be numbered, a public library offers the best sources of healthful excitement, the most grateful refuge from the din of theological and political controversy, the truest relaxation from the cares of business, and, next to the influences of religion, the strongest safeguard against the seductions of pleasure. Sustained by considerations like these, let us, one and all, seek to promote by every means in our power, the welfare of the institution which has been entrusted to our care. Its