THE SURTEES SOCIETY. 



REPORT FOR THE YEAR MDCCCLVIL 



(Read at the General Meeting on the lOth of June. J 



To-day the Surtees Society is keeping its Twenty-third 

 Anniversary, and when it looks back upon its past career, 

 it has great reason to congratulate itself on the position it 

 at present occupies. The Society has two hundred names 

 upon its list of members, a larger number than it has ever 

 yet possessed, and the funds of the Society are, consequently, 

 in a prosperous condition. Its publications also are daily 

 rising into importance, and are winning the respect and con- 

 sideration of the literary men of other countries as well as of 

 our own. 



The Surtees Society cannot but feel deeply grateful for 

 the patronage and support which it has been fortunate enough 

 to obtain. In all the researches in which it has been engaged, 

 whether in public repositories or in private collections, it has 

 experienced the greatest courtesy and attention. Valuable 

 documents and manuscripts of every description have been 

 placed at the disposal of the council, and it is to this libe- 

 rality, so kindly and so uniformly shewn, that the Surtees 

 Society is mainly indebted for its present prosperity. 



It has been the endeavour of the Society, as far as possi- 

 ble, to diversify its publications and to make them suitable to 

 the tastes of the many labourers in the wide field of literary 

 research. The Ritualist, the Historian, and the Genealogist 

 have been equally considered. The Society is, indeed, obliged 

 to make its path within the limits of the ancient kingdom of 

 Northumbria, but surely when it sets before us the history of 

 that mighty province, it tells us of the history of England 

 itself. Within the same boundaries, from the days of Bede 

 and Alcuin to the present time, many have been striving 

 to build up a fabric which time has done its best to destroy : 

 if the Surtees Society can add to or elucidate their labours, 

 it will fulfil its mission. 



Whatever may be the fruits of its own endeavours, the 

 Surtees Society cannot but look wdth satisfaction upon the 

 efforts of its contemporaries. Many similar bodies have sprung 



