14 



The Eleventh General Meeting. 



Tho Mayor of Salisbury in returning thanks, said it was highlyj 

 gratifying to himsolf and the citizens generally to find that Salis- 

 bury had been selected as the place of the Society's meeting, and 

 he hoped that the endeavours which had been made to render the 

 gathering an agreeable and successful one, had not been altogether 

 in vain. While proud of the distinction shown them, the citizens 

 of Salisbury entertained no feelings of jealousy towards their? 

 friends in the north, and whether they assembled at Devizes or at} 

 Salisbury, he himself should always feel a pleasure in meeting the 

 members of the Wilts Archaeological Society. (Applause.) There 1 

 were many objects of interest in and around Salisbury, and if they 

 could not inspect all of them now, perhaps they might be induced 

 to pay the city another visit on a future occasion. He hoped, also, 

 that something would soon be done to bring about the proposed 

 " Stonehenge Congress." (Applause.) 



The President then gave the health of the visitors, many of; 

 whom he was glad to welcome amongst us, and to some of whom 

 we were much indebted for valuable information contributed to 

 day ; he more especially alluded to Mr. Gambier Parry and Mr. 

 Parker : who severally returned thanks. In the course of his 

 speech Mr. Parker remarked that he had a great affection for these 

 local Archaeological Societies, because he believed they were doing 

 an immense service throughout the country. They tended to 

 preservation and not to destruction ; and he hoped the nobility 

 and gentry would yet do more than they had done to preserve the 

 old manor houses of the country. Those old houses were more 

 interesting in an archaeological point of view than even our old 

 churches, because the latter were far more numerous. (Hear, 

 hear.) Archaeology was history written in stone, and he rejoiced 

 to know that he had had something to do with the formation and 

 promotion of Archaeological Societies. The Oxford Architectural 

 Society, the members of which met at his house, was, perhaps the 

 first Society of the kind. This was copied by Cambridge a few 

 months afterwards ,and from both Oxford and Cambridge the idea 

 was carried home by the youth of different counties. Such So- 

 cieties were highly important. Descriptive books were exceedingly 



