The Nineteenth General Meeting. 



303 



whose site is marked by the grand old elms which still surround it. 

 "Wyke House, at Staverton, the residence of Captain Perkins Clark, 

 is a good specimen of the domestic architecture of James I. It, at 

 one time belonged to the Vynour family. Sir Henry Vynour was 

 living there in 1623. His mother was a daughter of Robert Long, 

 Esq., of London. And now pray forgive me for trespassing so long 

 on your time, and let me thank you very much for the kind attention 

 which you have bestowed upon my efforts. (Mr. Penruddocke re- 

 sumed his seat amidst great applause.) 



The Rev. A. C. Smith moved a cordial vote of thanks to the 

 Chairman for his very able address: they had already had experience 

 of the capabilities of their President as an Archaeologist at Wilton, 

 therefore they expected an excellent address from him, and most 

 certainly they were not disappointed in their expectations. There 

 were two or three matters touched on in the address on which he 

 desired to say a few words. Reference had been made to the work 

 of Mr. Fergusson and the strange doctrines it contained ; speaking 

 for himself and for many of his friends around him, (he believed he 

 might say for the Wiltshire Archaeological Society generally,) they 

 utterly repudiated the theories which that gentleman had thought 

 fit to broach. They could not bear to think that their grand 

 antiquities at Avebury and Stonehenge were post- Roman : and they 

 did not believe it for a moment. With regard to the parochial 

 histories which had been alluded to, he (Mr. Smith) had now in his 

 charge the histories of some 65 parishes in the county, and there 

 were others now in the course of preparation : he was about to issue 

 with the Bishop's sanction, fresh applications to those incumbents 

 who had not yet responded to the Society's appeal, and he hoped 

 the result would be that eventually they would obtain a history of 

 every parish in the county : these histories would hereafter, by the 

 express desire of the Bishop, be deposited in the Society's Library 

 at Devizes, where they would be open to the inspection of the clergy 

 and others. One other matter he would mention, and thai Was the 

 want of a competent entomologist to elucidate the insect branch of 

 the Natural History of the County : he trusted that some one whose 

 taste lay in that direction would volunteer to supply the 



