13 



the money and solicitude it has so frSely expended, shall be told 

 by the following verbatim extracts ; all but the last being from 

 the minute-book of the Council. 



1866. March 2. "Eesolved, that a guarantee fund be opened to 

 obviate the risk of loss to the Institution." 



1868. May 22. "Eesolved, that an effort be made to publish 



the Bibliotheca as soon as possible, on such a plan as 

 may be feasible with the funds at command." 



1869. April 5. "A communication having been read from Mr. 



George Boase, respecting a catalogue of works by Cornish- 



> men on which he has been engaged, it was resolved, that 



communication be opened with him, with reference to 



the use by him of the lists prepared by the Society for 



the Bibliotheca Cornubiensis, through Dr. Barham." 



Seven weeks later. May 18, at our Spring Meeting, as is 



reported in our Journal, " Dr. Barham made announcement that 



the completion and publication of the Bibliotheca Cornubiensis 



originally projected by this Institution had been taken in hand by 



Mr. George Boase, of London." 



In juxtaposition with these extracts I put another which does 

 not emanate from this Society, but is taken from the preface to the 

 first volume of the Bibliotheca Cornubiensis which has just been 

 published. There being no mention therein of the Eoyal Insti- 

 tution of Cormvall in connection with its printed Bibliotheca 

 Cornu^biensis, or, indeed, at all, I cite the following for want of 

 something more tangible : — 



" To Thomas Quiller Couch, Esq., of Bodmin, and Charles Chorley, 

 Esq., of Truro, they" (the said editors) "are indebted 

 for the use of some MS. collections formed by them 

 with the intention they once entertained of publishing 

 a catalogue of works on Cornwall." 

 Lest, by any misapprehension, the circumstance of our Council 

 having, — in order that there might be a sole Bibliotheca Cornu- 

 biensis in which all information at present ascertainable may be 

 comj)rised, — unreservedly placed in the hands of the editors of 

 the work just alluded to, the materials which this Institution 

 had been at so much pains to get together and assort for a similar 

 purpose, might cause it to be forgotten that the Eoyal Institu- 

 tion of Cornwall had been the pioneer in such a compilation, I 

 have thought it but a fair tribute to its fame that its efforts in 

 respect to it should be put on record in the foregoing unvarnished 

 historical recapitulation. 



Coming back to the open question of recent literary progress, 

 I do not hesitate to affirm that, Messrs. Boase and Courtney are 

 producing a work that cannot fail to take rank among the standard 



