16 



The Tenth General Meeting. 



Ward, Mr. Long, and other gentlemen, who were at all times ready 

 to give their valuable assistance either as contributors to the 

 Archa3ological Magazine or in any other way in which they could 

 serve the Society. 



The Rev. A. C. Smith wished, as there were a good many of the 

 Clergy present, to take the opportunity of saying a word upon a 

 subject to which Lord Nelson had alluded in his opening address 

 at the Hall. The Bishop, as they were aware, had taken up the 

 subject of Parochial History, and had made him (Mr. Smith) Sec- 

 retar}', and he hoped all present would help by every means in their 

 power — by answering the questions that were addressed to them — 

 to put forward the scheme. 



The next toast was " the Local Committee," and the health oi 

 the Mayor of Devizes, in proposing which Lord Nelson took the 

 opportunity of expressing his acknowledgments, on behalf of the 

 Society, for the handsome manner in which the town had come for- 

 ward to receive them, and for the readiness with which the authori- 

 ties had granted them the loan of their municipal charters for in- 

 spection in their museum. 



The health of "the Curators of the Museum" followed. Mr. 

 Cunnington said it was a great pleasure to him — having taken 

 part in establishing the Society — to see it, in its tenth year, so well 

 supported. He could not however help feeling deep regret at the 

 loss of one of their first members, their late Patron (Lord Lansdowne), 

 because it was mainly owing to his willingness and kind support, 

 when first applied to, to purchase the library and collection of arts 

 and antiquities of the late Mr. John Britton (whose widow honored 

 them that day with her company) — that their Society was es- 

 tablished. He might add that although the present temporary 

 museum at the Town-Hall was not so imposing in general appear- 

 ance as the museum which was formed at Salisbury in 1854 — owing 

 to the present one being arranged in three rooms, while that at 

 Salisbury was all concentrated in one room — still he did not hesi- 

 tate to say that it was the most valuable museum they had had — 

 with the exception of the missals and other valuable relics from 

 "the Cathedral of Salisbury, which they could not of course expect 



