spring JBeetins, 1557. 



Address by the President, Eev. W. Iago, B.A. 



" LONG MAY VICTORIA REIGN ! " 



God save the Queen ! — the illustrious and gentle Patron of 

 this Eoyal Institution, — the Monarch who is ever zealous for the 

 welfare of all, and who exerts all her influence for good. 



May Her Most Gracious Majesty be preserved from harm 

 in this her year of Jubilee, and for ever ! 



So pray we, one and all, as loyal subjects of the Empire 

 and as members of this Society. 



We inhabitants of Cornwall, dwelling in the uttermost part 

 of the land, are neither insensible to the benefits of good 

 government nor are we beyond the reach of those resources 

 of civilization which our friends in the Metropolis enjoy. With 

 respect to both, we have, each year, some distinct progress to 

 report in this nearly detached portion of England. Geographi- 

 cally we are all but severed from the English main, for Cornwall 

 consists partly of Islands, and our Peninsula itself is also set in 

 the ocean of the golden west. We are almost wholly encircled 

 by sparkling waves. Only a little isthmus, comprising a few 

 yards of land, connects us with the mother country, — just where 

 the fountains rise and flow apart by the hills in Morwenstow, 

 heights which are crowned, like others in various parts of our 

 county, with massive tumuli, the vestiges of a pre-historic 

 era : — 



" Hard by the scenes where pagan hosts have striven 

 And where their valliant chieftains fell, — 'tis said, — 

 Grave-mounds are raised o'er slabs all roughly riven 

 Which serve to guard the ashes of the dead." 



Weapons and cinerary urns may yet be found within those 

 mouldering heaps. 



