THE COUNCIL. 
0 > 
fringing on the rights of subscribers, and without endangering 
the comfort and good order of the establishment, the public 
were gratified, and the funds of the Institution benefited 
to the extent of £ 40. For this proceeding, under the pecu¬ 
liar circumstances of the case, the Council has no doubt 
that the Meeting will fully accord their approbation, and 
it appears desirable that, for the future, the discretionary 
power of the Council in such matters should not be abridged : 
it is however for this Meeting to decide whether any further 
directions are required. * 
The Musical Festival produced to the Society the honour 
of a most gratifying visit from Their Royal Highnesses- 
the Duchess of Kent and the Princess Victoria, who, 
after examining all the collections with attention, inscribed 
their names as Patronesses of the Yorkshire Museum, and 
contributed a munificent donation for the augmentation of 
the Library. 
In the Antiquarian department some valuable additions 
have been made during the last year. Mr. J. R. Mills has 
presented to the Society a curious Egyptian tablet, obtained 
from the collections of the late Mr. Salt. From Mr. Swineard 
have been received some beautiful remains of an altar screen, 
in stone, found buried in a garden near the western end of 
the Minster : and from the City Commissioners, the stones of 
a fine arch nearly entire ; a part, it is probable, of the 
Hospital of St. Peter. But among the various additions 
to this department of the Museum, the mortar formerly be¬ 
longing to the Infirmary of St. Mary's Abbey, must be 
regarded as of peculiar value. This curious relic, which 
having been lost from York soon after the days of Drake, 
appeared again several years ago in a foundry at Birmingham ; 
* The Meeting resolved that strangers not introduced by a member 
or by written order, might be admitted by Tickets, to be provided by 
the Council, and sold under their direction at one shilling each. 
