Transactions. 41 



minstrelsy. He stated that when liringing the subject before the 

 Society about a year ago he had only a very slender stock of 

 ballads in his wallet, but since then he had increased it to upwards 

 of sixty ; and the more he read of these ancient lays the more was 

 he charmed with their simplicity, tlieir pathos, their mingled force 

 and tenderness, and their poetical beauty. Some of these new 

 studies of old l^allads he would now lay before them. As on the 

 first occasion he had explained the manner in which they ha?l been 

 produced and their leading characteristics, he would not now 

 occupy time by travelling over the same ground. After a few 

 more preliminary remarks, Mr M'Dowall i)resented seven studies 

 seriatim, the ballads selected being Edom o' Gordon, Johnnie of 

 Breadisleo, The Gay Goss-hawk, Jamie Telfer, Kinmount Willie, 

 and The Marchioness of Douglas. 



•2nd of March, 1888. 

 Major BoWDEN, V.P., presided. Thirty-five members present. 

 New Members.— My Thomas Fraser, Dalbeattie, and Mr 

 "William M. Wright of Charnwood. 



Donations. — Mr James Barbour presented a wooden plate 

 ■with the initials J. F. and the date 1715, which belonged to a 

 John Frood of Blackshaw, Caerlavcrock ; also a saucer with the 

 initials M.D., 1752. The Rev. E. W. Weir presented the com- 

 munion tokens of Closeburn, Dunscore, Greyfriars (Dumfries), 

 Tinwald, and Trailtlat. The Secretary presented from Dr Sharp 

 an address read to the Entomological Society of London, and a 

 copy of a pamphlet on Insecta ; also nine parts of the Journal 

 of the Linnean Society from Mr W. D. Robinson-Douglas, the 

 21st Report of the Peabody Museum, and the Transactions of the 

 New York Academy of Sciences. 



Communications. 

 I. The Roman Baths of Aqtioe Saiis, Bath. By Mr James W. 

 Whitelaw, Solicitor. 

 After apologising for choosing a subject not strictly within 

 the lines of the Society, Mr Whitelaw went on to describe Bath 

 and its history, dwelling upon the time of the Romans and the 

 various traditions connected with it. He pointed out that there 

 were evidences of the Roman Baths having been used for a long 



