144 PROC. COTTESWOLD CLUB vol. xiii. (3) 



that his work on " A Cotswold Village " be added to our 

 Club Library as a memorial of him. 



From the "Cheltenham Examiner" of May 24th, 1899, 

 I take the following obituary notice : — 



" Mr Joseph Arthur Gibbs, of AbUngton Manor, has passed away 

 at the early age of 31. An injury from a cricket ball necessitated a 

 surgical operation of a rather serious nature, and death resulted from 

 failure of the heart's action. Mr Gibbs was the eldest son of Mr 

 George Monk Gibbs, and was educated at Eton and Christ Church, 

 Oxford. After his University days, Mr Gibbs resided with his mother 

 at Ablington, entering keenly into all the pursuits of a country 

 gentleman, and at the same time developing those literary tastes, of 

 which his well-known book, ' A Cotswold Village,' published only last 

 December, affords unquestionable evidence. Many people have read 

 this book with keen enjoyment. It gives a remarkably graphic picture 

 of Cotswold life, and presents a very unusual combination of interests. 

 Rustic legends, sketches of village character, village cricket, old Cots- 

 wold pastimes, the origin of place names, harvest feasts and Christmas 

 festivities, specimens of the dialect, and excellently illustrated de- 

 scriptions of the typical Cotswold towns, Cirencester and Burford, and 

 of that prettiest of Cotswold villages, Bibury, with its picturesque 

 hamlet of Ablington — all these matters are brightly treated of. Then, 

 too, there are pages of Wordsworthian musing, nature-sketches sug- 

 gestive of Richard Jefferies, discourse of angling and of hunting in the 

 spirit of a true enthusiast for sport, and, running through all, a distinct 

 feeling for literature and real literary quality. In reading ' A Cots- 

 wold Village,' one could not help feeling a wish to meet the author 

 and thank him for the human interest he had imparted to his book. It 

 is sincerely to be regretted that a life so full of promise of real literary 

 distinction should have closed thus early and abruptly." 



Another announcement I have to make with similar 

 regret, — that owing to the very sad state of his health, one 

 of our oldest members, and our senior Vice-President, the 

 Rev. Frederick Smithe, M.A., LL.D., F.G.S., has had to 

 resign. As you may know, for a long period the state of 



