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session though not perhaps in the proportion one might expect 

 to the members on the list, yet was fairly satisfactory and 

 encouraging. 



The first meeting was accordingly held in the Committee Room 

 of the Literary and Scientific Institution in the afternoon of Wed- 

 nesday, Dec. 18th, the Eev. H. N. EUacombe in the chair, the sub- 

 ject of the paper being " Subterranean Bath," by the Rev. Preb. 

 Earle, of which the following is the summary : — Mr. Earle supposed 

 thatif they could uncover Bath to a depth of 15ft. or 16ft. they would 

 find a great deal of the traces and monuments of history. In the 

 first place they would come in many parts to Roman remains, as 

 they knew from such instances as the Mineral Water Hospital 

 where they had a fine Roman pavement. So in many other places 

 Mr. Davis had come down upon Roman Bath, and as that gentle- 

 man was present he would no doubt tell them something of what 

 he had seen. There were three distinct levels at which obser- 

 vations had been made, leaving out of course the natural level 

 from which aU started. There was first the Roman level, and 

 second that of a period of desolation after the Roman departure. 

 That seemed to have lasted for some time ; Mr. Moore called 

 attention to it many years ago when excavations were being made 

 upon the site of the Wliite Hart, and said he observed vegetable 

 debris, wliich meant that the place had been so long desolate that 

 a growth of vegetation had taken place ; on the other hand, though 

 in a stone country like this the Romans built in part with stone, 

 the upper part of their houses were mostly of wood, and in time 

 that would decay and produce exactly the effect which Mr. Moore 

 spoke of. But the period in question interested him from another 

 point of view in this day of comparative studies. Bath lay desolate 

 for 100 years at least — bethought 200. The Saxons who invaded 

 this country came from the most northern of the Gothic peoples, 

 they were the least civilised, and very destructive and ferocious. 

 The first city known to have been taken by them was 

 Andredesceaster — in Latin, Anderida — a town on the borders of 



