LINKS WITH THE NEW WORLD 



upon. The Society has a contemporary portrait 

 of its founder by Lewis Vaslet, a miniature 

 painter of repute. It is executed in crayons, and 

 has distinct merits as a work of art. It adorns 

 the Society's Committee Room at Bath, and 

 Austin Dobson must have had just such a cos- 

 tumed embodiment of the past in his mind when 

 he wrote : 



" He wears a brown Old Brunswick coat, 

 With silver buttons round his throat 

 A soft cravat : in all you note 

 An elder fashion." 



My office post-bag often brings me pleasant 

 reminders of the wide area over which the name 

 of the ancient and loyal City of Bath is carried 

 by means of the old Agricultural Society living 

 in its midst. This is due to the fact that the 

 Society, over a long series of years, has, by means 

 of correspondence, exchange of publications, and 

 in other ways, kept touch with many Agricultural 

 and Scientific Societies on the Continent, in 

 America, and in our Colonies* So far back as the 

 latter end of the eighteenth century friendly 

 communication had already been established 

 between the Bath Society and distant bodies. 

 Hanging in the Society's Committee Room is a 

 framed diploma, dated November 30th, 1787, 

 and signed by the Abbe de Lully, Comte Delgos, 

 directeur, and the Abbe de Vitry, secretary, of 

 the Societe Royale d' Agriculture de Lyon, certi- 

 fying that " William Matthews, secretaire de la 

 Societe d' Agriculture de Bath," had been elected 

 an Honorary Associate of the Society they repre- 

 sented. An instance of the amicable feeling 



183 



