The Sixth General Meeting. 



251 



nent statesmen at once. They were the Right Hon. Sidney 

 Herbert and the Right Hon. Sotheron Estcourt. Mr. Sidney 

 Herbert had for three years been the President of their Archaeolo- 

 gical Society. He might observe that no one took a greater inter- 

 est in the archaeology of the county to which he belonged than 

 Mr. Sidney Herbert, and every archaeologist ought to feel very 

 much obliged to him for having given the Society his services during 

 the last three years. With regard to the other right hon. gentle- 

 man — Mr. Sotheron Estcourt — it had been suggested that he should 

 be asked to become the President of the Society for the next three 

 years, and he (Mr. Carrington) hoped he would accept the office, 

 for a man of his talent could not do otherwise than discharge its 

 duties with advantage to the Society. [The toast was very heartily 

 received.] 



The Marquis of Ailesbury's name was next welcomed with much 

 satisfaction, and in his absence, his brother Lord Ernest Bruce 

 kindly promised to do the honours of Tottenham Court the next day. 



The Chairman said he would now propose the health of a gentle- 

 man who had been one of the best supporters of the Wiltshire 

 Archaeological Society from the first hour of its institution to the 

 present moment : Mr. Poulett Scrope. Some years had now elapsed 

 since the Wiltshire Archaeological Society was first started, and 

 throughout its existence one of its most influential and persevering 

 supporters had been Mr. Poulett Scrope. He had never for an in- 

 stant slackened in his antiquarian energy; and to him it was in 

 great measure owing that this was one of the best County Societies 

 in England. Others — the Bristol Society for one — had crumbled 

 into dust more than the very antiquities which they sought : but 

 the Wiltshire Society was going on as it had begun: for which 

 they were very much indebted to their friend the President of the 

 Marlborough Meeting. 



Mr. Poulett Scrope in reply, only claimed the merit of having 

 taken the same interest as others had shown in the archaeology of 

 the county. He had wished to join in doing for the Northern part 

 of Wiltshire, what Mr. Matcham and his colleagues had done for 

 the South. 



