124 The Twenty-first General Meeting. 
of the poor of a thousand years ago, they would see a great advance 
and improvement had taken place. No one who carefully compared 
the hardships which the great bulk of the people in past centuries had 
to endure, with the position of the poor at the present time, could 
come to any other conclusion but that their condition had much 
improved. If they looked back through the written history of this 
country they could scarcely fail to remark that up to about 200 years 
ago, there were perpetual disturbances—civil wars, bloodshed and ill- 
will. Those who were acquainted with the history of this county 
were aware that it was the great battle field of contending factions, and 
the opposing parties seemed to have met and fought here for the 
very reason he had mentioned, perhaps, because Wiltshire was more 
wealthy and populous than many other parts of the country, and 
thus Wiltshire had frequently been the scene of strife from the time 
of the conflicts between the Saxons and the Danes in the reign of 
King Alfred, down to the seventeenth century, when in the battle 
of Roundway Down, Sir William Waller was defeated by the King’s 
troops. We were now in the enjoyment of peace, which was, as it 
were, the outcome of the times of suffering to which he had alluded. 
Those things, happily for us, belonged to the past, and we were now 
enjoying the good results of the troubles and trials of our forefathers. 
Let us try, by investigating their history, and seeing how they 
endured those misfortunes, and how we had advanced far beyond 
their condition, to aim at something still higher and better for our- 
selves, and those who should come after us, and each, in his own 
sphere, strive to promote the advancement, peace, and prosperity of 
our common country. ; 
E. T. Srevens, Esq. (the Hon. Curator of the Blackmore Museum, 
Salisbury), in seconding the motion, congratulated the members of 
the Society, on the establishment of the very admirable Museum 
which would be opened that day. Museums were of two kinds— 
places where curiosities were deposited, and repositories for a series of 
objects which, when once scientifically arranged, conveyed instruction 
which could not be gathered from books. There was one class of 
knowledge which could only come by an examination of objects. 
He therefore congratulated them, not only on having a collection, 
