XXVlll PEOCEEDINGS, 



PiELD Meeting, 2nd Jthy, 1892. 

 ABBOT'S LANGLEY AND BEDMONT. 



The members assemHed at King's Langley Station and walked 

 to Abbot's Langley, where they were shown over the grounds 

 of Langley House by Mr. and Miss Henty. The fine trees which 

 adorn the lawn in front of the house were inspected with much 

 interest. The most remarkable of these is a horse-chestnut, the 

 lower branches of which have bent to the ground, taken root, 

 and sprung up again with greatly-renewed vigour, their diameter 

 being increased, after rooting, two or three times. The spread 

 of the branches, Mr. Henty said, is foi'ty-two yards. The Rev. 

 Canon Gree refers to this tree in his paper on "Famous Trees 

 in Hertfordshire,"* and says that its interest is so great that 

 ' ' it literally throws into the shade the cedars on the lawn, one 

 of which is sixteen and a half feet round." Near by a fine tulip- 

 tree was seen, now just coming into flower. 



Just beyond Bedmont the beautif al grounds of Serge Hill were 

 entered, and here the members and their friends Avere very 

 hospitably entertained by Major Eeynolds Solly and Mrs. Solly, 

 and spent a considerable time in examining Mr. Solly's collection 

 of shells, minerals, etc., and in looking over his fine library, which 

 contains many rare and valuable works on Natural History and 

 Archaeology. 



A vote of thanks having been accorded to Mr. and Mrs. Solly, 

 on the proposition of the President, the walk was continued across 

 the fields by Potter's Crouch to St. Albans. The party numbered 

 about twenty. 



Field Meeting, 8th Octobee, 1892. 

 GORHAMBUEY, ST. ALBANS. 



This was a special meeting arranged with the Earl of Yerulam 

 by the President to enable the members of the Society to see the 

 valuable collection of historical paintings, especially those of in- 

 terest in connection with the life and times of Francis Bacon, which 

 are preserved in Gorhambury House. To avoid too large a party 

 the meeting had to be restricted to memlers, about twenty of whom 

 availed themselves of the invitation of the Earl of Verulam. They 

 were received and conducted through several of the apartments by 

 the Earl, Lady Jane Grimston, and the Hon. William Grimston. 



There are two portraits of Francis Bacon, one, representing him 

 with his hat on as is usual with portraits of his time, painted by 

 Yansomer about the year 1 620 ; the other, without the hat, usually 

 supposed also to be by Vansomer, but a much inferior painting, and 

 probably a copy of Vansomer's by another hand, made at a later 

 date when it was no longer the fashion to portray people vtith their 

 heads covered. Vansomer's painting is believed by Spedding f to be 



* 'Trans. Watford Nat. Hist. Soc.,' Vol. II, p. 1. 

 t 'Letters and Life of Francis Bacon,' Vol. iii, p. iii. 



