XXXV POLITICAL, SOCIAL, LITERARY 167 



to Sir Roderick Murchison, F.R.S. In this office 

 he had for his colleagues from first to last : Sir 

 F. A. Abel, Lord Aberdare, Lord Collins (Master 

 of the Rolls), Sir H. H, Cozens-Hardy (the 

 present Master of the Rolls), the Rt. Hon. Sir 

 M. E. Grant Duff, Sir Francis Grant, P.RA., 

 Frederic Ouvry, Esq., P.S.A., Lord Overstone, 

 Earl Roberts, K.G., General Sir Edward Sabine, 

 P.R.S., and Earl Stanhope, P.S.A. 



" Lord Avebury made an admirable chairman 

 of a Public Meeting, most urbane, courteous, 

 conciliatory and at the same time well versed in 

 all the technicalities of business, and concealing 

 a firm grasp of the proceedings under a pleasant 

 mask of extreme deference and politeness. As 

 Trustee he frequently presided at the meetings 

 of the Committee on the occasion of the special 

 elections under rule 11, and was very often 

 chosen to preside at the Annual Meetings of 

 the Club. At one time he was President of the 

 Society of Antiquaries, and I well remember the 

 remarkable skill and tactfulness with which he 

 conducted a General Meeting when a matter 

 which had raised some feeling among the Fellows 

 was discussed. 



" Lord Avebury made much use of the Library 

 of the Athenaeum, and I have frequently helped 

 him in verifying quotations. 



" Perhaps the most noteworthy event among 

 the associations of Lord Avebury with the 

 Athenaeum was the dinner given to the Members 

 of the Order of Merit immediately after the 

 foundation of the Order by King Edward VII. 

 in 1902, the year of his Coronation. Nine of 



