23 
On the evening of Thursday, 22nd of February, the month distinctly 
identified with commemorations of the hundredth anniversary of the 
birth of Dickens, the theatre was thronged with an audience eagerly 
listening to Professor J. C. Bridge’s graphie and luminous account of the 
special association of the novelist with Rochester. In the course of the 
paper a wonderful freshness was imparted to many @ time-honoured 
detail; one welcome revelation, however, was made which established a. 
charming connection between Dickens in his career at school and the 
ancestor of a deeply-respected family now residing in Chester. The 
lecture, in its incidents and quotations, gave Dr. Bridge a rare oppor- 
tunity for illustrating his own vivid sense of humour: and the occasional 
gleams of keen and subtle criticism afforded ample evidence of the 
speaker’s judgment that Dickens, if not absolutely the greatest, will 
probably remain for ever the most intensely fascinating of English 
novelists. 
The third lecture was given in March by the Secretary of the 
Section. The subject dealt with by Mr. Graham was “ Moliére,” the 
man whose contemporaries in his own land have combined with readers 
of all nations in after times to single him out as the brightest ornament 
in the golden age of French literature. ‘The lecturer, in developing his 
theme, claimed a still higher glory for the poet. Taking to witness, 
out of many masterpieces, four plays alone—‘ Le Misanthrope,’ “ Le 
Tartuffe,’ “Don Juan,” and “Tes Femmes Savantes”—Mr. Graham 
had no hesiration in challenging for Moliére the position of the greatest 
comic dramatist that ever lived. 
ASTRONOMICAL SECTION. 
At the November meeting of the above Section, Mr. John Welsh 
M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., &e., delivered a lecture on “The Eye,” when Mr 
John Bairstow presided over a large audience. In the absence of the 
Sectional Secretary, Mr. Cecil Owen, B.Sc., took the secretarial duties. 
During the coming Session it is hoped that a series of “ Lawn Meetings” 
may be held, subject to the weather being suitable. 
ee 
OFFA’S DYKE. 
On the occasion of the visit. of the Society to Cadwgan Hall, 
on May 27th, 1911, the paper on “ Offa’s Dyke,” printed below, was 
contributed by Dr. H. Drinkwater, F.R.S. (Edin.), F.L.S. :-— 
This ridge of earth is a portion of what is known as Offa’s Dyke, 
which formerly stretched in a continuous and fairly direct line for a 
distance of about 100 miles from near Prestatyn, in Flintshire, to the 
Severn, near Bristol. Originally it marked the boundary between Wales 
and that portion of England which constituted the Kingdom of Mercia. 
It was constructed by King Offa, who reigned from 757 to 795, and 
it is believed that he had the dyke made in the year 765, considerably 
over 1100 years ago. 
The oldest reference to the Dyke is by Asser, who was a Welshman, 
from Mynyw or St. David’s (Asser Menevensis), and who wrote only 
about 100 years after Offa’s death. He says :— There was of late in 
Mercia a certain strenuous King, and a formidable one among all the 
kings about him and the neighbouring countries—Offa by name—who 
lag to be made between Britain and Mercia a great Dyke from sea 
oO sea.” 
A later writer says:—‘The aforesaid Dyke King Offa constructed, 
entrenched within the defence of which he abode the more securely from 
his Welsh enemies; for in his time continuous strife existed between him 
and the Welsh, so that he could by no means get the upper hand of their 
assaults or ambushes except with this protection from sea to sea. ‘There- 
