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The Twenty -first General Meeting. 



bygone nges ; all of which were the objects of archaeology. I will (con- 

 tinued the President) , illustrate what I mean. I saw the other day an 

 old book called a Custumal, in the writing- of an ancestor of the pre- 

 sent Earl Spencer, relating to the manor of Wimbledon, which applies 

 very much to what I am saying. He formed a sort of archaeological 

 societjr by calling all his tenants together, and all the holders of 

 land and property in the parish and district — and he commences the 

 custumal thus. Henry VII. : — 



u Inasmuch as the human mind is not able to remember everything (because 

 if it were able, transcribing would be but waste of labour), and because writing 

 frequently and properly brings back things to the memory (and by the weakness 

 of the mind very often things fall away and become uncertain), I will compile 

 those things on account of the customs of Wymbledon, so far used and lawfully 

 obtained by the assistance of writing for perpetual remembrance in this work." 



Amongst other things in this Custumal, it is stated that the tenants 

 of the Manor ought to pay the Archbishop of Canterbury, on first 

 coming into his archbishopric, £6 13s. 4^., for the purchase of a 

 palfrey ; but it goes on to say that certain Archbishops had, and 

 were accustomed to have on their first coming (although with com- 

 plaining of the tenants), a certain gift from the tenants called 

 saddlesilver, to wit, 10 marks; yet this is not done because the 

 tenants assert that it was a sinister way at first [£6 13.?. 4id. is still 

 paid] . The Earl seems from this custumal and some other old books 

 to have carried out the maxim of Captain Cuttle in " Dombey and 

 Son/'' "when found make a note of, " though his illustrations are 

 not always correct. In the Proverbs of Solomon you will find these 

 words, " May we never want a friend in need nor a bottle to give 

 him/' — when found make a note of. There is a large tract of land 

 near London called Wimbledon, that has been preserved in the 

 family ever since, and this payment is made upon it, and has 

 amounted to a considerable sum, although it does not tend to any 

 great public benefit. What I mean to show is that archaeology 

 finds the materials for history ; and a proof of this is afforded in the 

 Museum. 



It has been frequently observed that archaeology is a science which 

 demands almost the labour of a whole life to gain a proficiency in, 

 and it has been described as a language, without a grammar or 



