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Excerpt from An Address, Delivered Before the Mercantile Library Company of Philadelphia, May 11, 1841 Gentlemen of the Mercantile Library Company, I beg you to consider my appearance in this place, as an expresssion of my interest in this and in kindred Institutions. I welcome them as signs of the times, as promises and means of increased intellectual activity. I shall be glad, if a good word or a friendly effort on my part can serve them. I know, that the lectures delivered before such societies are called superficial; but this does not discourage me. All human productions, even those of genius, are very superficial, compared with the unfathomable depths of truth. The simple question is, do these lectures rouse the mind to new action? Do they give it new objects of thought, and excite a thirst for knowledge? I am sure that they do, and therefore, though the field is sometimes called humble, I enter it with pleasure. - Will you allow me to observe, that to render lectures useful, one condition is necessary; they must be frank, honest, free. He who speaks, must speak what he thinks; speak courteously, but uncompromisingly. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Step back in time to 19th century Philadelphia with this fascinating address delivered by William Ellery Channing to the Mercantile Library Company. Channing's eloquent words offer a vivid portrait of the city and its people, as well as insights into the issues and events of the day. With its blend of history, literature, and philosophy, this book is a delight for anyone interested in intellectual and cultural life of early America. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.