TRANSACTIONS. 4] 
minstrelsy. He stated that when bringing 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, their pathos, their mingled force 
and tenderness, and their poetical beauty. Some of these new 
studies of old ballads he would now lay before them. As on the 
first occasion he had explained the manner in which they had 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 presented seven studies 
seriatim, the ballads selected being Edom o’ Gordon, Johnnie of 
Breadislee, The Gay Goss-hawk, Jamie Telfer, Kinmount Willie, 
and The Marchioness of Douglas. 
2nd of March, 1888. 
Major Bowpen, V.P., presided. Thirty-five members present. 
New Members—Mr Thomas F raser, 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, Caerlaverock ; also a saucer with the 
initials M.D., 1752. The Rev. R, W. Weir presented the com- 
munion tokens of Closeburn, Dunscore, Greyfriars (Dumfries), 
Tinwald, and Trailflat. The Secretary presented from Dr Sharp 
an address read to the Entomological Society of London, and a 
copy of a pamphlet on JZysecta; 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. Zhe Roman Baths of Aque Salis, 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 
