118 The Twenty-first General Meeting. 



commissioned him to say that he would have joined them with great 

 pleasure, but for his absence in a distant part of Ireland. Lord 

 Lansdowne's grandfather had inaugurated this Society in that Hall, 

 as their Patron, twenty-one years ago, and the Committee had hoped 

 that his grandson, would have been present on this occasion to open 

 the Museum, as he most certainly would have done, but for his 

 absence from England. Mr. Smith then proceeded to read the 



REPORT FOR 1874. 



" The Committee of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural 

 History Society cannot meet the Members of the Society on this 

 important occasion of its history (of this day attaining its majority, 

 and at the same time inaugurating its new Museum and Library ), 

 without very heartily congratulating themselves and the Society at 

 large on the highly satisfactory state in which it now finds itself. 



" As twenty-one years have elapsed since the Society was inaugu- 

 rated in this room, and as this seems a marked epoch in its history, 

 perhaps it may be permitted to review very briefly the course it has 

 pursued, and what it has effected, before we touch upon its present 

 position. 



" The Committee thinks it worthy of especial congratulation that 

 the interest of the people of Wiltshire, in the ancient remains 

 and history of their county, as well as in its natural history 

 has been so much developed and increased during the period 

 of the existence of the Society. Without entering into minute 

 particulars the Society may now justly boast of the perform- 

 ance of what was at the outset merely anticipation and promise. 

 Civil, ecclesiastical, and natural history, has been promoted ; ancient 

 buildings have been carefully examined and described ; the grand 

 Celtic remains, and the many British earthworks, in which 

 our county so pre-eminently abounds, have been cared for; and in 

 more than one instance their preservation from destruction has been 

 secured by the efforts of members of this Society ; the genealogy of 

 several county families which was heretofore obscure, has been 

 elucidated ; manners, customs, and personal biography have been 

 investigated and put upon record ; documents once neglected have 



