REPORT. 29 



upon them to pay immediate attention to the charge. They 

 have already replaced the buttresses, of which the loss 

 endangered the remaining aisle ; have secured the arch of 

 the western window, and removed the unsightly materials 

 of later date, with which the beautiful tracery was in some 

 parts encumbered and defaced. They have not thought it 

 in good taste to renovate, but have found it indispensably 

 necessary to repair. 



The same feeling which forbids them to be negligent 

 guardians of this inimitable specimen of Ancient Art, in- 

 fluences the whole view in which they regard the Society's 

 present position as a Scientific Establishment ; a feeling no 

 longer merely of zeal for the promotion of art and science, 

 but a more serious sense of deep responsibility. The Society 

 has received favours of no inconsiderable magnitude ; it has 

 experienced, in no ordinary degree, the munificence of a 

 liberal Government, and the generosity of a public-spirited 

 County. To acquit itself of the obligations which it is under 

 to that liberality, and to keep faith with that public spirit, is 

 a duty with which its Council is strongly impressed. When 

 they look at the Site on which the Yorkshire Museum 

 is beginning to rise ; when they count the Subscriptions, 

 collected for its erection, and consider that this sum has been 

 raised upon no transferable, and, in great part, upon no 

 proximate and tangible interest — they cannot indeed repress 

 their exultation, and are astonished at their own success. But 

 at the same time, it is impossible for them to contemplate, 

 without some degree of solicitude, the Debt of Honour which 

 the Society has contracted, and the expectations which it is 

 called upon to fulfil. 



