In July, 1830, Sampson Arnold Mackey delivered a course of six
"astro-historical lectures" in a large room near the Philanthropic
Institution. The attendance was full, considering the subject, and I was
surprised at the admiration which many well-educated persons expressed for
his strange theories, to which they seemed to give full assent. To me his
calculations and etymologies appeared as good as those of Pluche, Sir W.
Drummond, Volney, and Dupuis, but no better. I met him at the house of the
late Dr. Wright, then resident physician to Bethlehem Hospital. He was
quiet and unassuming; but so perfectly satisfied that he had proved his
system, that though ready to explain, he declined to answer objections, or
defend his opinions. As a remarkable example of "the pursuit of knowledge
under difficulties," he excited sympathy, and I believe that he disposed of
all the copies of his various works then unsold.