14 The Seventeenth General Meeting. 



information, in your respective districts; and for thus furnishing 

 accurate and valuable materials for the Magazine." 



At the conclusion of the Report (which was adopted by the 

 meeting), the Council, General and Local Secretaries and other 

 officers of the Society were unanimously re-elected, with thanks to 

 them for their past services. 



The Rev. D. Oliviee read an account of "Wilton Church/-' 

 which will shortly appear in the Magazine. This paper was the 

 more acceptable as it was followed by a visit to the church itself, 

 under the guidance of the Rector. 



Mr. William W. Ravenhill next read a paper on " The Trial 

 and Execution of Colonel Penruddocke, at Exeter, for Hig-h Treason 

 A.D. 1655/^ [The first part of this paper is printed in the present 

 number.] 



The thanks of the meeting were voted to Mr. Ravenhill for his 

 paper, and before the meeting adjourned 



Mr. Cunnington said Lord Romilly had been in communication 

 with the Society on the subject of our national antiquities. His 

 lordship wished a committee to be appointed to petition the House 

 of Commons in favour of legislative action. Committees had been 

 appointed by the British Association and the London Ethnological 

 Association, and he (Mr. Cunnington) had therefore to propose that 

 a committee be appointed by the Wiltshire Society for the same 

 purpose, such committee to consist of the President, Dr. Thurnam, 

 Mr. E. T. Stevens, and Mr. Ravenhill. 



The Rev. A. C. Smith seconded the proposition. It was of great 

 importance that our national antiquities should be preserved. In 

 riding across Marlborough Downs the other day, he came upon the 

 only two cromlechs remaining in North Wilts, and he found that 

 one of the capstones had been broken up for building purposes. He 

 immediately represented the matter to Lord Ernest Bruce, as trustee 

 of the property of Sir Henry Meux, and he trusted that the existing 

 remains would be strictly preserved. 



The motion was carried unanimously, and the company then pro- 

 ceeded to Wilton Church, in the inspection of which some time was 

 occupied. 



