The Presidents Address. 



129 



history of its structure; like the striking' fact, admitted by zoologists, 

 that the teeth of each animal have a necessary connection with the 

 entire organization of its frame, so that within certain limits we can 

 predict the entire organization by simply examining the tooth. 

 When the true path of enquiry has once been indicated the rest is 

 comparatively easy. Archaeologists, by their labours, are collecting 

 materials for the history of man, the noblest, and at the same time 

 the most arduous of all pursuits. 



" Know then thyself, presume not God to scan, 

 The proper study of mankind is Man." 



I want to rescue archaeology from the general charge that has been 

 made of its being a mere idle pastime. Let me glance at the merits 

 and advantages of our own Association. Wiltshire is rich in objects of 

 antiquity, and possesses a mass of illustrations. We have castles and 

 towns of different periods, ages, and races; tombs, barrows, and Druid- 

 ical temples, tessellated pavements, Roman villas, great Roman roads, 

 abbeys, with specimens of Anglo-Saxon architecture, like Malmesbury 

 Abbey Church; Norman arches and shafts,abbeys of the Early English 

 likeBradenstoke; and of the florid English, like Lacock ; stone crosses, 

 preaching crosses, market crosses ; some of the finest specimens of 

 civil and domestic architecture, like South Wraxhall; and ancient 

 bridges, and bells ; and ancient historians, like Aubrey, Sir R. Hoare, 

 and Britton, and our present most worthy historian and chronicler, 

 Canon Jackson. With such materials before us we have all the 

 temptations requisite to induce us to become archaeologists. But 

 we do not stop here ; we offer in addition pleasant excursions, 

 cheerful company, and very frequently the most attractive hospitality 

 and sumptuous refreshment, in order to relieve the more arduous 

 labours — so that the Wiltshire archaeological life, like the human 

 life, considered as a whole, may be said to have two distinct branches, 

 one branch being characteristic of pleasant excursions and modern 

 social life, and the other of the march of knowledge by the study 

 of the habits of men and manners of preceding centuries. Perhaps 

 some of the present company are not aware of the simile, and have 

 never considered that they have a double existence. Plants may 



