Page:On the economy of machinery and manufactures - Babbage - 1846.djvu/415

Rh extraordinary, that even that solitary dignitythat barony by tenure in the world of British sciencethe chair of the Royal Society, should have been coveted for adventitious rank. It is more extraordinary, that a Prince, distinguished by the liberal views he has invariably taken of public affairs,and eminent for his patronage of every institution calculated to alleviate those miseries from which, by his rank, he is himself exemptedwho is stated by his friends to be the warm admirer of knowledge, and most anxious for its advancement, should have been so imperfectly informed by those friends, as to have wrested from the head of science, the only civic wreath which could adorn its brow.

In the meanwhile the President may learn, through the only medium by which his elevated station admits