Ill 



The dinner, under the presidency of Sir Roderick, was most 

 numerously attended, and the guests speedily adjourned, by the 

 invitation of the ladies, to coffee, after which Mr. Buckinau read 

 a paper on one of the forms of Terebratula (T. perovali* var. 

 ampla). 



I do not know whether I may have been much to blame on 



many former occasions, for promoting discussions between the 



members of the Club. I certainly have often done so, and Imvo 



greatly enjoyed the exhibition of the talent and knowledge that 



discussions have called forth. Alas ! must this pleasure 



cease must we check at once all shew of a difference of opinion, 



for fear that it should degenerate into animosity ? Can we not 



:ii opinion, even contrary to our own, expressed, without 



imputing an intentional wrong ? 



Tlio meeting, alas, terminated with a feeling that a somewhat 

 uncomfortable had occurred, and with an idea that for such small 

 and unpretending affairs as ours, meetings of a moderate size 

 were preferable to very large ones. 



August 28th, the Club should have met at Berkeley, (so says 

 Mr. Jones, to whose kindness I am indebted for the following 

 able report,) but Purnell B. Purnell, Esq., having invited the most 

 constant attendants of our meetings to Breakfast at his residence, 

 the "venue" was laid at Stancombe Park, instead of the Berkeley 

 Arms, whither, accordingly the Club repaired. Antecedent and 

 posterior to, the usual commencement of the proceedings, that is 

 a hearty and well-provided breakfast, in which Ladies were allowed 

 to participate, some of the treasures of that Gentleman's collection 

 were thrown open to inspection, the variety and costliness of which 

 surprised many. Although not a professed geologist, rare speci- 

 mens varying from all the specimens in his neighbourhood to the 

 Mammalian Crag, invited the attention of the geologists of the 

 party ; and although not a professed antiquarian, the collection of 

 personal ornaments of the Egyptian, Etruscan, Greek, Eoman, 

 and Medieval periods will not soon be forgotten by those who 

 gazed with interest only, upon relics connected with the social 

 progress of the human species. 



The delight with which the party traversed the tastefully laid 

 out grounds, can only be indicated, but not conveyed. Here a 

 subterranean passage, opening out into one of those bursts of 

 sylvan scenery which the " cwms" of the Cotteswolds alone can 

 parallel. There a small classical building, replete witli treasures 

 of ancient art, derived from all the people already alluded to, and 

 not excluding the wonders of Nineveh and Babylon. Here a 

 pond, dilated by the exquisite taste which dictated its construc- 

 tion into all the landscape effect of a lake ; there a receptacle of 

 the rarest stuffed birds, paintings, models of fishes and fruits, 

 from the universal Exhibition of 1851, and paintings of esteemed 

 old masters, which divided attention with the artfully set scenery 



