8 REPORT OF THE 



now laid out, not only relieve and harmonize in pictorial effect with 

 the antique walls and buildings immediately around, but offer pleasing 

 views of more distant objects, and minister in a high degree to the 

 gratification of the Members. 



As guardians of St. Mary's Abbey we may regret that portions of 

 the demesne, and even parts of the church, are still beyond the 

 boundaries of the Society, and inaccessible to its thousands of 

 Visitors ; but as Citizens of York we must rejoice that so much has 

 been saved which once appeared destined to destruction, and avail 

 ourselves of every occasion for appealing to that public spirit which 

 now happily animates our Municipal Authorities, in favour of the 

 monuments of ancient York. 



That such appeals in suitable cases will not be fruitless, the 

 Council have a most gratifying proof in the consent of the Cor- 

 poration to place in the possesion of the Society what remains of the 

 Hospital of St. Leonard, with so much of the area surroimding this 

 building and adjoining the Roman wall, as will allow of their being 

 freed from many incumbrances and examined with convenience and 

 advantage. In considering this question, the Lord Mayor and the 

 Members of the City Council evinced the most earnest desire to 

 forward a measure so acceptable to the lovers of Antiquity. And 

 the Society will be enabled by their friendly co-operation'to offer to 

 the Members of the Archaeological Institute, when they assemble in 

 York, a most characteristic welcome, amidst Roman Towers and 

 Mediaeval Abbeys, the preservation of which is the pledge of our own 

 duration. 



For this important addition to the possessions of the Society, the 

 small rent now paid to tlie Corporation is to be augmented to £20 : 

 the expenses of the requisite alterations to be defrayed by the Societ)^ 

 The objects which now deform the remains of St. Leonard's Hospital 

 must be removed, a new fence- wall constructed, the ground excavated 

 and planted, the Lodge rebuilt in a more convenient site. The 

 expense of these alterations cannot now be estimated minutely : they 

 will not however be too great for the important object in view, and 

 not too great for the Society to appropriate. In employing for this 

 purpose a portion of the Beckwith Legacy, the Council confidently 

 believe the Society will be acting in the spirit and in conformity 

 with the intention of the donor : they beUeve the addition of the 

 Arches of St. Leonard's to the attractions of the Museum grounds 



