LIXNEAN SOCIETT Oi" LONDON. IX 



the President opened the business of the Meeting \vdth the follow- 

 ing Addi-ess : — 



Gentlemen, 



The return of our Anniversary claims from me this accustomed 

 recognition of our mutual relation to each other, and I gladly 

 commence my brief address by the expression of the feeHng which 

 is naturally uppermost in my mind on this occasion, of the warmest 

 gratitude for the continued confidence and kindness which the 

 experience of the past year has again exhibited on the part of the 

 Society towards me, and which, I ma}^ well be proud to say, has 

 never sustained a single check, or been shadowed by a single cloud, 

 since the day when you first unreservedly confided to me the re- 

 sponsible and honourable occupation of this chair. If I know my 

 own heart, that confidence, far from engendering on my part an 

 indiflerence to the welfare of the Society, will only render me the 

 more anxious to deserve it, by an unremitting watchfidness over 

 your interests, and a constant endeavouj* so to fulfil the duties of 

 my ofiice, that when I shall finally resign it into your hands, I 

 may still be able to congratulate myself on the continuance, usque 

 adfinem, of the same uninterrupted good feeling and hearty trust. 



Like its predecessors, the past year has been chequered by light 

 and shadow. The general brightness of om' career has not been 

 without its clouds, nor can we reasonably expect, in so large a 

 body as ours, that a year could pass away without some event to 

 cause us sorrow, and to qualify our exultation at the increased 

 prosperity with which we have been favoured. 



When alluding to the darker phase of our year's experience, 

 your thoughts will at once be directed with my own to the tem- 

 porary removal from amongst us of one who for twenty years has 

 been the life of our Society. The merits and services of Mr. Ben- 

 nett require no eulogy from me in this place. They have been too 

 long knowTi and are too duly appreciated for anything that I can say 

 to add one throb to the gratitude and affection which fill the heart of 

 every one who has had the opportunity of observing the unwearied 

 constancy, the rare judgment, the extensive and varied knowledge, 

 the devotion to oiu" interests, and the afiectionate attachment, which 

 have all been brought to bear upon the welfare of a Society of which 

 Mr. Bennett has for so long a period been the stay and ornament, 

 the decus et tutavien. These services, as modestly as efficiently 

 conferred, have been requited by the gratitude and affection of 



