138 THE president's address. 



An ear on a sword blade : — Malchus's ear. 



A pig-like iiead in profile, with gaping mouth : — Hades. 



Hideous faces and venomous monsters : — Evil Spirits. 



A cowled fox preaching to geese : — Carricature of the 

 Eegulars. 



Armorial bearings, merchants' marks, personal badges and 

 initials : — indications of founders, benefactors, those who 

 wrought, &c. 



The mention of these last leads me to call attention, most 

 emphatically, to the desirability of retaining as long as possible 

 all ancient remains in their original positions When undis- 

 turbed, they give a true account of the structure in connection 

 with which they occur. When transposed into some other part 

 of the fabric, or removed into some other building, their evidence 

 becomes more or less falsified and calculated to deceive future 

 enquirers. 



What can be more misleading, for example, than to adorn 

 the roof of one building with the bosses taken from another, 

 when those bosses give the names, arms, or devices of certain 

 donors ? I have known instances of such misplacement, in a 

 laudable desire to secure their preservation. The removal has 

 made them false witnesses. They speak eloquently, though 

 inaudibly, of benefactors or artificers who had no connection 

 whatever with the dome in which they now appear. Even such 

 relics as are least regarded, possess in their mere style valuable 

 historical associations, whilst in situ. When once shifted, the 

 thread of their story is snapped. This truth should be borne 

 in mind, much more frequently than it is, by church-restorers 

 and by custodians of antiquities in general. 



As to Ornament supplying a clue to the Date of a monument, 

 one instance will suffice in illustration. 



I will refer to that old inscribed Cross at Cardinham, which 

 I mentioned just now as having been figured by me in our 

 Journal ten years ago, and as having been frequently copied 

 since for modern use. Most of our members are familiar with 

 its design, through my lithograph having been used in the 

 production of a brass imprint for the cover of our earliest 



