228 ANNUAL MEETING. 



The minutes of the last meeting having been read and 

 confirmed, the secretary read the following 



REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. 



The Council in presenting the 79th Annual Eeport and 

 Balance Sheet, have pleasure in again stating that the Institution 

 continues a prosperous course, and that the facilities afforded 

 to students for study in antiquarian and scientific subjects, are 

 being more and more availed of. The presents to the Museum 

 and Library show an increase, and have been received from 

 friends of the society scattered over various parts of the world, 

 showing the wide-spread interest felt in the institution. 



The Society is to be congratulated on the smallness of the 

 loss by death since the last annual meeting. They have, 

 however, to regret the death of Mr. Greorge Clement Boase, the 

 eminent Cornish writer and compiler, who died in London in 

 October last. 



He was born at Penzance in 1829, and educated at the 

 Grammar School there. Before settling down to a literary 

 career he had a varied experience as clerk, corrector for the 

 press, gold digger, tutor and manager in a store. Having 

 retired from commercial pursuits he gave himself up entirely to 

 literary work, and commenced to prepare a Cornish bibliography, 

 and in connection with Mr. William Prideaux Courtney brought 

 out the Bibliotheca Cornubiensis. In 1890 Mr. Boase issued 

 another work of the same character, the result of his subsequent 

 labours, entitled Collectanea Cornubiensia. The last few years 

 of Mr. Boase's life were mainly devoted to articles contributed 

 by him to the Dictionary of National Biography, which 

 numbered over 700 in all, and were distinguished by their 

 accuracy and attention to detail. Mr. Boase was a member of 

 very long standing of this Institution, in which he always 

 showed the greatest interest. 



The membership of a Society such as this necessarily 

 fluctuates by deaths and removals, but the council are happy to 

 say that the new members about compensate for the loss from 

 these sources, 



