40 Conversazione. 
it proposes, that of some effort to complete the History of the 
County. The use that it may be of in this respect, I have endea- 
voured to describe. It is, m a word, that of effecting, by the 
codperation of many, a task which you will not easily find one person 
fit to undertake alone. Not that such a task is beyond the strength 
of one person, if he had life before him, and certainty of health and 
encouragement. The wndescribed part of Wiltshire is not so fright- 
fully large. But it needs no oracle to tell you, that many are 
better than one, when hard work is to be done. One able-bodied man, 
or a man and a boy, might make your branch railway from Devizes 
to Melksham; but I think none of us would live to ride upon it. 
And so a single person may write the history of the hundred-and- 
fifty or more of parishes that remain to be described in this part of 
the county. But some of us, at all events, would not live to read it. 
It is a task which requires a number of opportunities and qualifi- 
cations which are more likely to be found in several persons than 
in any one. And even if any one possessed them, yet time and 
health and eyesight are perishable things. The very fondness for 
such studies will itself also sometimes wear off; and if in addition to 
these infirmities the writer is also liable to be chilled by the indif- 
ference of those whom his labours chiefly concern, no wonder that 
he retires from the task, even if he does not sink under it. Several 
have attempted large undertakings single-handed, and have sunk 
under them; and that perhaps may explain to us how it comes to 
pass that so many of our county histories are still incomplete. AIL 
this seems to warn us that the best way is, to try what union of 
industry, and union of accomplishments may do; to collect the 
scattered elements of strength, and to set several to work instead of 
one. That is what I believe to be the principle and object of the 
present Society.” 
On sitting down, a vote of thanks was moved to the Rev. gentle- 
man by the Recorder of Devizes, which the Chairman pronounced 
carried by acclamation, and expressed his belief that the general 
Archeological History of the County, which Mr. Jackson hoped 
would result from the combined labours of the Society, would be 
accomplished at no very distant period. He then called on any 
lady or gentleman who wished to make any remark on Mr. Jackson’s 
address to do so; and no one responding to the call, he requested 
the Rey. A. Fanr to address the meeting, which he did, to the great 
gratification of the company—illustrating, in the course of his re- 
marks, the manner in which country clergymen might assist in 
the work Mr. Jackson had suggested, by a short but vivid descrip- 
tion of Boyton Church, built by one of the Giffards, whose tomb, 
with the effigy of the cross-legged knight and the mastiff, afforded 
a theme for a glowing account of his gallant deeds in the Holy 
Land, and the unfortunate fate of his nephew, who, being in re- 
bellion with other Barons against his Sovereign, was taken and 
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