REPORT, 



PRESENTED BY THE COUNCIL TO THE ANNUAL MEETING, 



FEBRUARY THE FIFTH, 

 M.DCCC.XXVIII. 



The Council have had occasion, on former anniversa- 

 ries, to congratulate the Society on the retrospect of the 

 preceding year ; but never, since the commencement of the 

 Institution, have they been enabled to render so prosperous 

 an account of its progress, as in the Report which they have 

 now the honour of submitting to the Meeting. 



To complete the design which the Society originally 

 contemplated, it has always been felt by its members to be 

 essentially requisite, that an edifice should be erected of such 

 a character and such dimensions, as might befit a County 

 Museum : and the Council have first to call the attention of 

 the Meeting, to the proceedings by which they have advanced 

 towards the accomplishment of this great object. 



The possibility of accomplishing it in a satisfactory manner, 

 appeared to them, from the first, to rest upon the success of the 



