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President's Address. 289 
his entertainer. (Applause.) I assure you, ladies and gentlemen, 
and especially ladies, that it is a very happy time with archzologists, 
and I would persuade you all to add the name of a friend or relative 
to our present list of members. I am glad to tell you that the 
Society is doing very well, that its members are increasing in number, 
and that the funds are adequate for all its requirements. Through 
the liberality of the members and of the county people, assisted by 
other friends, we have been enabled to purchase a building in 
Devizes which, with some alteration at a moderate cost, will be 
admirably adapted to form a museum for objects of very great interest 
which are now the property of the Society. I confess that at first 
I was not prepared to advocate the formation of a museum at Devizes, 
for I thought it might degenerate into a purely local one, and one 
without sufficient interest for the public generally—but I very soon 
altered my opinion, and now believe that this museum is really 
wanted, not only as the receptacle of such antiquities as may, and 
have, become the property of this Society, but also for those 
exhibitions of ancient relics—pictures and family collections—a sight 
of which isso much‘coveted by the enquiring public. It is not every 
one who has the chance, or perhaps can afford to spend a few days in 
London to see the wonders of the British Museum or the art ~ 
treasures at Kensington. But with proper buildings in our own 
county we may show a number of exceedingly rare and valuable 
things, and thus bring knowledge to the very doors of the humblest 
individual. Do not let it be supposed that archeology and arche- 
ological pursuits are necessarily confined to the upper classes, or to 
those of a superior intellect or education. It is the aim of this 
Society to inculcate a spirit of enquiry and research, and to encourage 
by all means a love for investigation, and to foster and cultivate a 
taste for the discovery of any thing which may serve to throw fresh 
light upon the habits and customs of our ancestors. It becomes of 
more consequence than may be at first imagined to persuade the 
plough-boy when he turns up a coin with his plough to refrain from 
rubbing it bright upon the first stone he can find, and to educate 
the drainer and navvy to spare the interesting but seemingly 
_ valueless objects which they meet with in their labours. We may 
