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HEPOKTS OF SOCIETIES. 
Aug., 1890 . 
read a paper on “Art and the Naturalist.” The writer said if all 
naturalists would use their knowledge to the beautifying and enrich¬ 
ing of art, it would remove the stigma so often applied them of mere 
faddists. No school of art existed that did not assume to interpret 
nature. The idea of the Gothic artist was aspiration, and the true 
principle of art was the interpretation of some natural fact. When 
an artist forgot this principle his craft was near its end. The paper 
dealt with the subject under two divisions, pictorial art and decorative 
art; the first only depicted what the artist saw, the latter made use of 
conventional treatment. All scientific students should be free with 
their criticisms when nature has been outraged in art. The writer 
concluded by saying Natural History Societies had been of great use to 
art in popularising the forms and beauties of living objects, and giving 
taste to those who had studied nature less than themselves. 
DUDLEY AND MIDLAND GEOLOGICAL AND SCIENTIFIC 
SOCIETY.—On Tuesday, July 1st, the Society made their second excur¬ 
sion to several places of interest on Cannock Chase. They met at Ruge- 
ley, where Mr. Fairley, mine agent to the Marquis of Anglesey, showed 
them some magnificent photographs of sections taken from the different 
collieries on the Chase belonging to the marquis. These photographs, 
four in number, he afterwards very kindly handed to the Secretary 
of the Society, to place in its museum at Dudley. The party first 
walked to the old Church, which is now a ruin, although the chancel 
is used for early prayers. The tower and chancel are old, early 
English, probably about the date 1240. The Chapel is of the early 
decorated or geometrical period. The east wall of the north Chapel has 
the mutilated remains of what appears to have once been a richly 
moulded and carved reredos, rising high up into the three-light 
window. The arcade on the north side of what was once the nave 
now stands in the churchyard by itself. Carriages took the members 
to Longdon Church, where two very fine specimens of Norman zig¬ 
zag arches and the font, which is very ancient, were noticed. The 
bottom of the font consists of a capital from Lichfield Cathedral. 
Beaudesert Hall, the seat of the Marquis of Anglesey, was next visited. 
This place was formerly the property of the Bishop of Chester, 
and afterwards came into the possession of the Paget family. The 
first Lord Paget was created in 1549, and was in great favour with 
Henry VIII. He was consulted by that monarch as to the legality of 
his marriage with Catherine of Arragon. In 1714 the then Lord Paget 
was created Earl of Uxbridge, but this latter title died out in 1769, and 
the estates went to a distant cousin, together with the title of Lord 
Paget. The chief interest centred in the celebrated Marquis of Angle¬ 
sey. Amongst his valorous deeds, his exploits at Waterloo entitle 
him to rank next to the Duke of Wellington. At the end of the battle 
he received a wound in his leg, by almost the last shot fired, and it was 
found necessary to amputate it. The pictures, of which there are two 
by Snider and four by Ommegauck, a Dutch painter, and another of 
the Battle of Waterloo, by Devius Dighton, were much admired. The 
camp at Castle Rings was the next object of interest. This 
camp, Dr. Plot imagined was the work of the Danish King Canute, 
when he made his incursions into this country, or else that it might 
have been cast up by the Mercians in their own defence. Mr. Pennant 
suspected it to be an ancient British post, and since the researches of 
Mr. Duignan,the resultof which appeared in the “ Midland Antiquary,” 
December, 1885, it would appear that the latter is the more correct 
view. With the help of Mr. Duignan’s paper, it was explained that 
