Apkil 28. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



317 



LONDON. SATURDAY, APRIL 28. 1855. 



iiatti. 



THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUAKIES. 



[Agreeing entirely in the spirit of the following com- 

 munication, and being able to testify from the experience 

 of one evening how agreeable and instructive are the con- 

 versations to which our correspondent alludes, we ghully 

 give insertion to his addres?, We think, however, that 

 this appeal should have been tnade quite as much to the 

 members who have recent!}' joined the Society, and 

 among whom are to be found many well able to furnish 

 communications of great value and interest, as to those 

 ■who have already done it much good service. Let us 

 hope, however, that both classes will join in promoting 

 the well-being of a Society which has long held so pro- 

 minent a position among the literary institutions of the 

 country. ] 



" Let bygones be bygones." — Old Saw. 

 For several successive Thursday evenings the 

 reading of papers at this Society, and the exhi- 

 t)ition of antiquarian objects, have been followed 

 in some cases by conversations most agreeable and 

 instructive, and in others by animated discussions, 

 •which discussions have been carried on in a tone, 

 and in a spirit, befitting a society of scholars. I 

 hope that these are signs of better times at hand ; 

 and as on Thursday next, the 3rd of May, the 

 Society will commence a new session, with a new 

 council, a new and most excellent vice-president 

 — that great favourite with all the Fellows, Sir 

 Robert Inglis — and if not a new president, with 

 a president advanced to a higher position, will 

 you, Mr. Editor, permit one who has been for 

 many yearg a well-wisher to the Society, to address 

 through your columns a few words to his brother 

 Fellows. That the Society has not been in a 

 healthy condition for some time, none can deny. 

 How this has arisen it is useless to inquire ; 

 healthy symptoms are, however, now manifesting 

 themselves. Let us promote them, and if it be 

 asked how can this be done, the answer is a very 

 plain and easy one : " Let bygones be bygones." 

 Let those who have from one cause or another 

 ceased to attend or to contribute, resume their 

 attendance, renew their communications. Too 

 long has the Rev. Joseph Hunter ceased from fur- 

 nishing those historical papers whicli were always 

 received with so much attention. Too long has 

 Mr. Albert Way, who gained within the walls of 

 Somerset House his now European reputation, 

 forgotten the field on which it was won. Why 

 has Mr. Bruce, whose illustrations of our national 

 history have given so much value to the Ar- 

 chaeologia, been so long silent ? Sir Frederick 

 Madden * again, whose profound knowledge of 



[* Our correspondent appears not to be aware that Sir 

 P. Madden retired some years since from the Society. 

 The return of so distinguished a scholar under the new law 

 would alone serve to show the propriety of its adoption. 

 — Ed. "N. &Q."] I f J f 



diplomatics and our own early literature are so 

 remarkable, will he not out of his stores of know- 

 ledge furnish something for the instruction of 

 the Society ? Has Mr. Roach Smith no com- 

 munication on the subject of Romano-British 

 Art, no interesting specimens to lay before us. 

 Has Mr. Wright (unequalled among all the 

 Fellows for the variety of his acquirements) no 

 new illustration of monumental or literary anti- 

 quities with whicli to furnish forth the materials 

 for a pleasant evening? And if these brighter 

 luminaries have ceased to shine, how many of the 

 "Stella Minores" might be invoked to shed forth 

 their little beams. But passing from these appeals 

 to individuals, let me address those " Imperia in 

 Imperio" — the successors of the Old Antiquaries 

 Club — the Noviomagian and Cocked-hat So- 

 cieties : — Gentlemen, the object for which you 

 profess to be associated is to promote the well- 

 being of the Society of Antiquaries. You can 

 now do so most effectually. Let every member, 

 if he is not prepared with a communication, exert 

 himself to procure objects for exhibition ; and he 

 may depend upon it, unless the experience of the 

 last few weeks proves utterly delusive, he will 

 find in the agreeable and edifying conversation 

 which those exhibitions call forth, and in the good 

 feeling which those conversations must eventually 

 produce in the Society, that he will not only- 

 secure for himself considerable personal gratifica- 

 tion, but he will at the same time contribute most 

 effectually to promote sound archsaological know- 

 ledge, and to restore to its former pre-eminence 

 in such pursuits that time-honoured institution — 

 The Society of Antiquaries of London. F. D. 



INEDITED LETTER FROM MATTHEW PRIOR. 



[Prior, as is well known, was Secretary' to the English 

 Embassy sent to the Congress which eventually ter- 

 minated" in the Peace of Eyswick. After the treaty had 

 been signed by the Plenipotentiaries, but before its rati- 

 fication by France, a difficulty was started by the French 

 ambassador on the King of Great Britain's using the 

 words Bex Franciie. In The History of 3Ir. Prior's 

 Negociations, vol. i. pp. 35-7., there is a warrant from 

 William the_ Third, authorising the Plenipotentiaries to 

 omit the title Rex Francia, " if the style be found other- 

 wise in the ratifications of the Treatv of Breda, and of 

 other treaties made since; provided t£e said treaties be 

 understood to be such as have been made and ratified 

 under the Great Seal of England, before the abdication of 

 the late King James." In the former part of the warrant 

 reference is made to the " Letter from Matthew Prior, 

 Esq., of the 14th instant" (October), announcing that the 

 French ambassadors had excepted against the style of 

 Htx Francia:. Prior's Letter is not printed in the work 

 to which we have referred, and is now, we believe, printed 

 for the first time. We may add that in the French 

 ratification of the treaty, now in the State Paper Ofiice, 

 the title objected to, viz. King of France, is not to be 

 found. But there is reasonto believe that, in the English 

 ratification, William is styled "Kex Magnas Britannise, 



