138 



all merciful enou^'h to allow them full compensation for a toilsome march in a 

 splendid glimpse of Gloiicaster Cathedral. At the conclusion of Mr. Symoudss 

 address on tSie h 11 top, the rain burst its barriers, and poured down with a 

 vehemjnce thit did not abate for the rest of our available day. Of 

 Mr. Sym mds's address, I can only speak in the capacity of a novice scanning 

 the mature wis lom of a veteran. Yoix will be able to judge of it by perusal 

 in our transactions ; but I mxy be allowed to express the gratification it gave 

 the Club and its President on the day in question to welcome, when they were 

 well up the hill-side, the cheery presence of the author of " Old Stones," and 

 to find " The Recorder of the Rooks," undaunted by wind or weather, at the 

 rendezvous before them, and ready, as soon as a ring was formed, to pour 

 forth his stores of information, about the history, anti(iuities, folklore, and 

 geology of a height so familiar to most of us from a distance, but by most of 

 us so rarely (if ever) before surmounted. Nor were we indebted to 

 Mr. Symonds for his lecture alone. In reply to a vote of thanks, he let fall 

 some suggestive remarks on the importance of making the new museum— 

 the inauguration of which promises to be one of the local events of a year 

 which has begun eventfully— a repertory and sanctuary of the typical fossils 

 of the district within range of the Woolhope Club, as well as of such kindred 

 local collections as should be oiiered by individuals, and accounted worth}-, by 

 a competent committee, of such a permanent hope. Remembering the great 

 boon of the Ludlow Museum as a nurse of local geologists, and calling to 

 mind the interest of the museums, public and private, at Shrewsbury, 

 Malvern, Salisbury, Caerleon, and elsewhere, it seems to me not unseasonable 

 to express a hope that Hereford, slow though it has been to build itself a 

 house, and concentrate its forces in a local habitation, will make up for lost 

 time in the systematic accumulation of treasures from its many special fields, 

 and will take steps (for this I hold to be a most important matter) to furnish 

 itself with a scientific library of reference. At Ross, where we dined on the 

 May Hill field day, stress of weather prevented the attendance of some who 

 would either liave read independent jjapers or supplemented that which we had 

 heard in the morning. I think I may now confidently state that the topic, 

 which was mainly discussed after dinner, namely, the revived publication of 

 the Club's transactions, has since acquired form and substance, and is likely 

 to bear fruit not later than Midsummer, in a volume which will embrace all 

 our unpublished ari'ear of matter. I must only ask the Club to have patience, 

 and to grant us, if we need it, a very small rate in aid. Oiu- third excui-sion 

 (on the Ladies' Day, July the 11th), was to Richard's Castle and Hay Park, 

 the former an historic site of an importance in the history of the Marches, 

 vei-y disproportionate to its now scarcely visible vestiges ; the latter dear to 

 poetic fancy (which I hope the Woolhope Club does not ban or banish) as the 

 scene of Lady Alice Egerton's misadventure, which eventuated in Milton's 

 "Masque of Comus." Through the generous hospitality of Mr. Broad wood, 

 the tenant of the Moor and Hay Parks, who met us at Richard's Castle, and 



