president's address. 51 



to be at first sight, as such descriptions are yery liable to error 

 from fancy and prejudice, and there is always a strong tempta- 

 tion to add to the interest of a humble subject by exaggeration. 



An instance of the difficulty of arriving at truth in such 

 matters, may be found in the conflicting opinions about the 

 condition of labourers in the north of Northumberland. The 

 late benevolent Vicar of Norham, and the resident farmers, would 

 certainly have described it very differently. In the absence of 

 such accurate descriptions, our great historian, Macaulay, has 

 been obliged to have recourse to novels and farces for his 

 sketches of different periods of society, and has thus transferred 

 to his canvass, features manifestly caricatured and overdrawn, 

 and possibly has accepted the creations of fancy and humour for 

 faithful delineations of nature. 



I have now to record the proceedings at the meetings of the 

 Society. 



The First Field Meeting was held on the 11th of June, by 

 the invitation of the Rev. Henry Hopwood, at Bothal and Sheep- 

 wash. The party from Newcastle, on alighting at Morpeth, were 

 joined by several members, and proceeded on foot by the banks 

 of the Wansbeck to Bothal and thence to Sheepwash, examining 

 on their way the various objects of interest which came under 

 their notice. On reaching Sheepwash, they met with a courteous 

 reception from the Rev. Henry Hopwood ; and after luncheon, 

 assembled in the Rectory Gardens, when Mr. Sidney Gibson read 

 a paper on the History of the Church, Castle, and Barony of 

 Bothal. He stated that the Church of Bothal is interesting as a 

 specimen of the effect of border warfare on Ecclesiastical Archi- 

 tecture, as it has the square-headed trefoiled arch, common in 

 castellated buildings, and a campanile instead of a tower, from 

 the castle being adjacent. He expressed regret at the ruinous 

 state of the castle, as compared with its former strength and 

 magnitude ; but although this feeling is natural to imaginative 

 minds, I may be allowed to doubt whether a castle is not even 

 more beautiful and interesting in ruins, and whether the rural 

 calm which has succeeded to its warlike splendours is not sug- 

 gestive of nobler as well as happier associations, than its semi- 

 savage period of feudal power. 



