from the town, wns our next point ; but, as the investigations 

 under Mr. Wylie have long been discontinued, there was but 

 little visible evidence of those resting places of about one hundred 

 bodies of our Saxon forefathers, whose remains, corporeal and 

 ornamental, furnished Mr. Wylie with such curious evidence of 

 the manners and customs, arts and manufactures, of the ancient 

 Saxon race, as he has given us in his interesting volume, entitled 

 Saxon Graves. A few beads, from a cottager, furnished us with a 

 souvenir of the Saxon ; some of pottery inlaid with strips of glass 

 or enamel, others of amber. We know not whether this gum was 

 supposed to possess any extraordinary charm, but it appears to 

 have been much cherished by the Saxons, and the number of 

 beads of this description found at Pairford would fill two or three 

 pint measures. 



On August 3rd we met in Gloucester and took the rail to 

 Chepstow ; a more scientific party may have occasionally met to- 

 gether, but not often a party more thoroughly disposed to enjoy 

 an exquisite day amongst exquisite scenery. We started from 

 Chepstow on a coach under the guidance of my excellent trooper, 

 Jem Dobbs, of the White Hart, who drove us to within a short 

 distance of the summit of the WindclifFe, whence we saw at our 

 feet such meanderings of the Wye, that a cannon-ball would cross 

 the river four times in its course to Chepstow Castle ; while, if we 

 raised the eye above the rock and wood;of the opposite bank, it met 

 the full range of the Cotteswold hills in the distance. Descend- 

 ing to the Moss Cottage, where we again found our vehicle, which 

 descent was performed by some via the path with steps leading 

 from the right of the summit, (where by the way we found the 

 Asplenium trichomaiics, growing in unusual luxuriance and 

 beauty), and by others, more adventurous, who determined to find 

 or make a way to the left, (by that extraordinary providence which 

 the Musselman believes to attach to certain classes none were 

 killed : Jem Dobbs still points out the scar of rock which one 

 came down) by right or left all finally arrived at the bottom and 

 proceeded to Tintern. 



I will not attempt to give any ideas of my own of this exquisite 

 Abbey, but, as I in right of my office as President, claim the right 

 of plagiarizing to any extent from the ideas of any of our mem- 

 bers, a privilege of which I avail myself largely, often without 

 acknowledging it, I will read Professor Buckman's ideas of it as 

 slightly better than any I could give of my own. 



An examination of its details must leave the following impres- 

 sions upon a thoughtful mind : 



1st, The great economy of materials, every part being nicely 

 adjusted to the work it had to do. 



2nd, The complete absence of constructive ornament, its carv- 

 ings are merely for the ornamentation of some useful and necessary 

 part of the structure, and in no instance is anything unnecessa- 

 rily obtruded so as to display ornament. - 



3rd, The ornamentation has been so nicely balanced, that the 



