2 The Thirty-Fourth General Meeting. 
The intention of this preliminary meeting was two-fold ; first, the 
formal reception of the Institute and the hearty assurance of 
welcome on the part of the city authorities and the county Archzo- 
logical Society, both of which were most cordial in their expressions 
of satisfaction and the honour they felt in receiving the visit of the 
Royal Archeological Institute: and then the hearing of the Presi- 
dent’s Address. 
Tue Mayor said that on behalf of the Corporation and his fellow 
citizens he had much pleasure in bidding them a cordial and hearty 
welcome to the ancient city of Salisbury. They rejoiced that this— 
the second visit of the Members of the Royal Archeological Institute 
of Great Britain and Ireland, after a lapse of thirty-eight years—had 
fallen on more happy times than did the former visit to the city in 
1849. On that occasion, under the presidency of the late lamented 
scholar and statesman, Sidney Herbert, the Members of this Insti- 
tute met at a time when the country, and Salisbury in particular, was 
suffering from a fearful visitation of epidemic cholera. But the present 
visit occurred during a year of unprecedented thanksgiving and re- 
joicing,, for the fifty happy and glorious years’ reign of the Queen, in 
which he trusted the ancient and loyal city of Salisbury had taken 
a prominent part. It would ill become him in the presence of so 
many learned and distinguished archeologists to enlarge on the 
subject of their visit. It had often been asserted that few if any of 
the counties in England could vie with Wiltshire in the variety and 
interest of its ancient remains, evincing the successive ages of Celtic, 
Roman, Saxon, and Norman occupations. The city and immediate 
neighbourhood afforded a rich field for architectural and archzo- 
logical study. Old Sarum—the parent city—held no mean place 
in our national antiquities. That masterpiece of Gothic architecture, 
Salisbury Cathedral, with its steeple pointing heavenward, was the 
just pride of the city. The downs and plains teemed with memorials 
—notably Stonehenge—of a far distant epoch; mute mysteries 
reared by a race that had passed away and left no record behind. 
To the archeologist their thanks were due for reviving interest in 
the preservation of those ancient landmarks whose origin baffled 
all research and conjecture. In conclusion he desired to express 
