1892-93.] ELEVENTH MEETING. 235 



the mastery. The strongest and most fortunate ultimately became 

 supreme. Julius Caesar was thus produced and the old constitution and 

 senatorial supremacy expired. The second part of the paper was 

 devoted to " Lessons from the Teachings of Cicero," quoted largely from 

 those writings of Cicero which teach and discuss the moral duties. 



ELEVENTH MEETING. 



Eleventh Meeting, 28th Januar}^, 1893, the President in the chair. 



Donations and Exchanges, 33. 



Mr. Alan Macdougall, C.E., and Mr. James Bain, Jr., were appointed 

 representatives on the Board of the Lidustrial Exhibition Association. 



Rev. Philip Tocque, A.M., read a paper on " The Great Fires of St. 

 John's, Newfoundland, from 18 16." 



TWELFTH MEETING. 



Twelfth Meeting, 4th February, 1893, the President in the chair. 



Donations and Exchanges, 53. 



R. N. Wilson, of Fort McLeod, Alberta, was elected a member. 



Mr. W. A. Sherwood read a paper on " Hindrances to American 

 Art." He said there could be no phase of art thought more difficult to 

 grasp than that which fell to his lot that evening to discourse upon. 

 Long before the revolution, to the very foundation of colonial life, might 

 well be traced the fundamental basis of " Hindrances to American Art." 

 The Puritans, justly indignant at the licentious character of the English 

 court, carried their dislike to the utmost verge of practice. Painting, 

 royally encouraged in the palace of the Stuarts, fell a victim, like many 

 sister arts, to the contempt of the new colonists. Their 'homes and 

 places of worship were absolutely free from every kind of decoration. 

 Thus, through a whole century we could pass without any advancement 

 along the line of art. Indeed, the only semblance to adornment was to 

 be found in the basket work painted by the aborigines. In the next 

 century the same condition continued to exist, although, indeed, marked 

 by the birth of Benjamin West. Those of them who were familiar with 

 the biography of early American painters had but to recall that amusing 

 incident of West appearing before the fathers of the Church to answ^er 



