Excerpt from A Discourse, Delivered in the Chapel of Nassau-Hall, Before the Literary and Philosophical Society of New Jersey, at Its First Annual-Meeting, September 27, 1825 When this Discourse was delivered, it was prefaced with the following statement. "It is well known to all present, that the venerable and honoured President of our Society was appointed, and fully expected to perform this service. They will all, no doubt, regret, with me, that he found himself unable to fulfil his appointment; and that we cannot on the present occasion be instructed by his learning, wisdom and experience. It was not until Tuesday last that the least hint was given to me that I should be requested to appear as the substitute of that distinguished Individual. And, unfortunately, during the greater part of these five days, my time has been laboriously occupied with other and indispensable engagements of an official kind. In these circumstances, I am aware that, in venturing to comply with the request of the Executive Committee, I lay myself open to the charge of indiscretion, if not of temerity. If such should be the impression of my hearers, I trust they will find an apology for me in my ardent zeal for the welfare of our Society; and my earnest wish to avoid the pain of a total disappointment in the very first effort to introduce it to the notice of the publick." 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.