The Dinner. 



9 



Jackson, who described Savernake Forest in a way he had never 

 heard it treated before, and no doubt with a thorough knowledge o£ 

 the subject. lie felt himself totally unable to make an opening 

 speech worthy of the meeting, but if he had been of any little 

 assistance he was only too glad, and he sincerely hoped he should 

 have the pleasure of welcoming them all to Savernake to-morrow to 

 lunch. His Lordship then proposed the health of Sir John Lubbock, 

 the President of the Society, and expressed the pleasure with which 

 they welcomed Sir John and Lady Lubbock and their two daughters. 

 Sir John was deeply interested in archaeology and their ancient 

 monuments, and he may rest certain that he himself would respect 

 the " Devil's Den/' and every other Wiltshireman their monuments 

 of antiquity. 



Sir John Lubbock, after responding, said he must confess that 

 when he first came down to Wiltshire in his present capacity, he did 

 so with a considerable amount of hesitation and trepidation, but the 

 kindness and cordiality he received soon put him completely at his 

 ease, and made the Meetings of the Society amongst the most 

 pleasant and agreeable days of the year. Lord Ailesbury referred 

 to the Ancient Monuments Bill, and if he had not done so he him- 

 self should not have said a word upon that much-vexed subject, but 

 the fact was the Ancient Monuments Preservation Bill was, per- 

 haps necessarily, drawn up in language of a somewhat technical and 

 abstruse character, and it was not easy for anyone not a lawyer to- 

 understand what the provisions of it were : but nothing was further 

 from the intention of those who brought forward the Bill than to 

 imagine that all the owners of ancient monuments were at all likely 

 to destroy them. When the schedule was drawn up it was thought 

 that it would be invidious to leave out any important monuments 

 because they were known to be safe, and it was thought best to 

 make a list of them whether they were safe or not. It was 

 only in this sense that some were included, such as that which the 

 Noble Chairman had mentioned, and which, he was quite sure, 

 would be perfectly safe without any such protection. The effect of 

 the Bill would be this, that if the owner of any of those ancient 

 monuments wished to destroy it, the nation would have the power 



