the
Gilchrist Trust, and the matter was referred to the Library Committee.
The first of these series, delivered early in 1889 by Sir Robert Ball,
Dr. Lant Carpenter, Dr. Andrew Wilson, Professor Miall, Professor Seeley,
and the Rev. Dr. Dallinger, were "crowned with complete success." Under
the management of the Committee another course was delivered during the
following winter, when the lecturers were Sir Robert Ball, Dr. Andrew
Wilson, Mr. Louis Fagan, and Mr. Henry Seebohm, and two lectures were
given during the winter of 1890-91, by Sir Robert Ball and Dr. Andrew
Wilson respectively. Unfortunately, for reasons of economy, these were
supplemented by a series by local gentlemen (which were given in
Blackfriars' Hall), but the result was the reverse of successful, and led
eventually to the abandonment of the original scheme. Lectures by Sir
Robert Ball and Dr. Andrew Wilson, with others by local gentlemen were
given, however, in the winter of 1892-93, and in the following winter by
Sir Robert Ball, Dr. Andrew Wilson, and Dr. Drinkwater. No lectures were
given in the winter of 1893-94 as the University Extension Lectures then
inaugurated were regarded as sufficient, but these appealed to a
different class, and never took the place of the others.

In that year the Committee-room was in frequent use by three public
circles of the Norwich Branch of the National Home Reading Union, and by
the Norwich Students' Association, which again used the room in 1894-95.
The National Home Reading Union continued to use the room for several
years.

Lectures organised by the Committee were again revived in 1916 on the
occasion of the Tercentenary of the death of Shakespeare, when the
following lectures were delivered at the Technical Institute, the lecture
room at the Library being too small for the purpose: "Shakespeare as
National Hero," by Sir Sidney Lee, D.Litt., F.B.A.; "Shakespeare and the
English Ideal," {84} by the Dean of Norwich (The Very Rev. H. C.
Beeching, D.D., D.Litt.); "Shakespeare and Music," by Mr. A. Batchelor,
M.A.; "Dramatic Companies in Norwich of Shakespeare's Time," by Mr. L. G.
Bolingbroke; and "The Plant Lore of Shakespeare," by Mr. Edward Peake.
For the first two lectures one shilling was charged for admission, and
the net proceeds were sent to the Jenny Lind Hospital in Norwich (7
pounds : 12 : 6) and the Camps Library (8 pounds : 5 : 6). The remaining
lectures were free, but collections were taken on