124 The Twenty-first General Meeting. 



of the poor of a thousand years ago, they would see a great advance 

 and improvement had taken place. No one who carefully compared 

 the hardships which the great bulk of the people in past centuries had 

 to endure, with the position of the poor at the present time, could 

 come to any other conclusion but that their condition had much 

 improved. If they looked back through the written history of this 

 country they could scarcely fail to remark that up to about 200 years 

 ago, there were perpetual disturbances — civil wars, bloodshed and ill- 

 will. Those who were acquainted with the history of this county 

 were aware that it was the great battle field of contending factions, and 

 the opposing parties seemed to have met and fought here for the 

 very reason he had mentioned, perhaps, because Wiltshire was more 

 wealthy and populous than many other parts of the country, and 

 thus Wiltshire had frequently been the scene of strife from the time 

 of the conflicts between the Saxons and the Danes in the reign of 

 King Alfred, down to the seventeenth century, when in the battle 

 of Hound way Down, Sir William Waller was defeated by the King's 

 troops. We were now in the enjoyment of peace, which was, as it 

 were, the outcome of the times of suffering to which he had alluded. 

 Those things, happily for us, belonged to the past, and we were now 

 enjoying the good results of the troubles and trials of our forefathers. 

 Let us try, by investigating their history, and seeing how they 

 endured those misfortunes, and how we had advanced far beyond 

 their condition, to aim at something still higher and better for our- 

 selves, and those who should come after us, and each, in his own 

 sphere, strive to promote the advancement, peace, and prosperity of 

 our common country. 



E. T. Stevens, Esq. (the Hon. Curator of the Blackmore Museum, 

 Salisbury), in seconding the motion, congratulated the members of 

 the Society, on the establishment of the very admirable Museum 

 which would be opened that day. Museums were of two kinds — 

 places where "Curiosities were deposited, and repositories for a series of 

 objects which, when once scientifically arranged, conveyed instruction 

 which could not be gathered from books. There was one class of 

 knowledge which could only come by an examination of objects. 

 He therefore congratulated them, not only on having a collection, 



