Lesley.l 6* " [April 6, 



Vol. XVIII, 1878 to 1880— Nos. 102 to 106. 



Vol. XIX, 1880 and 1881— Nos. 107 to 109. 



Vol. XX, 1881'2'3— Nos. 110 to 113. 



Vol. XXI, 1883. June onward,— No. 114. 



I propose that as a substitute for Vol. I, now out of print, the Society 

 shall print a Vol. I, beginning in 1744 and containing the condensed Min- 

 utes of ninety-six years, i. e., up to the beginning of 1841, thus including 

 a condensed reprint of the present Vol. I. 



The MS. which I lay on the table consists of reports of the Proceedings 

 of every stated, adjourned or special meeting in more than seventy years, 

 condensed ; omitting nothing of the nature of an act or fact however un- 

 important, but stating it in the fewest possible words, and using a certain 

 number of easily understood contractions, such as Soc, Lib., Don., Com., 

 for Society, Library, Donations, Committee, &c., in order to get as many 

 paragraphs as possible to occupy each not more than one line of printed 

 text. 



Another means made use of for diminishing the bulk of the MS. was 

 the omission of all titles and initials to proper names, except in cases where 

 the title or initial was needful to distinguish one individual from another 

 of the same name. 



With the same object in view, the lists of members present at meetings 

 subsequent to 1800 are only given on important occasions, or at times when 

 the Society was specially active or specially inactive, or after numerous 

 admissions of new members, or at elections, or during debates protracted 

 from meeting to meeting. 



Much space was saved, and great clearness given to the record, for con- 

 sultation, by ignoring most of the prolix formality and tedious verbiage of 

 both minutes and resolutions. Short formuliB were adopted for many of 

 the constantly recurring proceedings, such as references to and reports 

 from committees. But resolutions of the slightest financial or historical 

 importance are given verbatim ; and where they are contracted or con- 

 densed, the essential wording is retained, and every word or sentence in 

 the original is furnished in the copy with quotation marks, to obviate the 

 necessity of reference to the original for the purpose of verifying the real 

 meaning of the transaction. 



Quotation marks are used throughout the copy, and by these the com- 

 pleteness of the copy as well as its fidelity, can be judged. 



All unusual spellings of words and names are followed by the signal 

 {sic). Many of the names of members are spelled by different Secretaries, 

 in different years, and in the same year, in two or more ways ; as for ex- 

 ample : Lesueur, Le Sueur, Le Seur ; Beesley, Beasley ; Du Ponceau, Du- 

 ponceau ; Nicholls, Nicolls, Nichols ; Pennington, Penington ; and even 

 Vaughan, Vaughn. Many of these variations are not due to careless tran- 

 scription, but to unestablishcd orthography. This is especially apparent 

 in the lawless variations in the use of initial capitals, especially in the ear- 



