Faraday to George William Manby   19 April 1830

Royal Institution | April 19. 1830

Sir

The Managers of this Institution have confided a letter of yours to my care¹ but in consequence of my absence from town until Saturday night I have not been able to address you before[.]

Your Objects are so important that we shall be very happy to avail ourselves of your kind offer in part if our views meet with your approbation[.] There is in the first place only one of our Friday Evenings that we can consider vacant for the subject you propose and in the next place we allow no subject to come forward on a friday except connected with some portion of what may be considered new matter[.] But either a new discovery or an addition to a discovery already made known or a new mode of demonstration or indeed any thing which takes from a subject the character of its being a mere repetition of what has already been made known makes it eligible for our table on these Friday Evenings[.]

We have no doubt that you must have extensions & new views continually arising in your mind. If therefore you think that when you are in town you can give us an experimental illustration on one of our Friday Evenings of your valuable applications the Committee would feel indebted to you. I would mention either the 21st or the 28th of May to you or even June 4th but as other subject[s] are retained in an undecided state until we know your convenience I should esteem myself obliged by an early answer²[.]

I am Sir | Your Obedient Servant | M. Faraday

Capt Manby | &c &c &c