The Private Diary of Dr. John Dee, from the MS. in the Ashmolean
Library, together with a Catalogue of MSS. in his Library. Edited by
JAMES ORCHARD HALLIWELL, Esq. F.R.S., F.S.A.
is completed at the press, and will be ready for delivery to the Members
by the end of the present month. The Council have followed the precedent
of former years, in directing that there should be appended to the
last-mentioned volume a list of the Members of the Society for the past
year; and, if the General Meeting think proper, this Report and that of
the Auditors may also be added.
The Council have much satisfaction in being able to state that the
"Apology for the Lollards," a work attributed to Wickliffe, which has
been so long delayed by reason of the many engagements of the Editor,
the Rev. Jas. Henthorn Todd, D.D. is now on the eve of completion; and
will certainly be ready for delivery in the ensuing year.
Considerable progress has also been made with the "Promptorium," a Latin
and English Dictionary of words in use during the fifteenth century,
editing by Albert Way, Esq. F.S.A. a work which the Council believe will
be one of great merit and utility; and a portion of it will be one of
the publications of the ensuing year.
Besides the Apology for the Lollards and the Promptuary, the following
works have been ordered to be put to press at the convenience of their
Editors and the Society, and will be published as soon as they are
ready.
A Collection of Original Letters and Papers of Literary Men of
England during the Reigns of Elizabeth and James I., including some
Unpublished Papers of Camden. To be edited by SIR HENRY ELLIS, K.H.,
F.R.S., F.S.A.
Latin Romance Narratives and Legends of the thirteenth, fourteenth,
and fifteenth Centuries, relating to King Arthur and other Heroes of
the Welsh and Breton cycle of Fiction. To be edited by Sir FREDERIC
MADDEN, K.H., F.R.S., F.S.A.
Letters and State Papers relating to the Proceedings of the Earl of
Leicester in the Low Countries, in the years 1585 and 1586, derived
from a MS. placed at the disposal of the Society by Frederick Ouvry,
Esq. and other sources. To be edited by JOHN BRUCE, Esq. F.S.A.
The Private Diary of Thomas Cartwright, Bishop of Chester, temp.
James II.
The Romance of Jean and Blonde of Oxford, by Philippe de Reims, an
Anglo-Norman Poet, of the latter end of the twelfth Century. To be
edited from a Unique MS. in the Royal Library at Paris, by M. LE ROUX
DE LINCY, editor of the Roman de Brut.
The Council have added the following works to the list of Suggested
Publications--
A Collection of Original Letters relating to the Dissolution of the
Monasteries and some other points connected with the Reformation.
To be edited by THOMAS WRIGHT, Esq. M.A., F.S.A.
Specimens of the Anglo-Latin Poets from the seventh to the thirteenth
century, selected from inedited MSS. and arranged chronologically,
with notices of the Writers and popular Notes. To be edited by THOMAS
WRIGHT, Esq. M.A., F.S.A.
Contemporary Diary of a resident in London, extending from the Year
1550 to 1563, now the Cottonian MS. Vitellius F. v. To be edited by
JOHN GOUGH NICHOLS, Esq. F.S.A.
The Council have to direct the attention of the Society to the
obligations conferred upon it by J. I. Blackburne, Esq. M.P. by giving
the Society the use of the MS. of the Three Romances, edited by Mr.
Robson.
Also by the Right Hon. Thomas Grenville, in placing in Mr. Way's hands,
upon the application of the Director, his valuable early printed
editions of the "Promptorium," which Mr. Way wished to use for his
edition of that work; and by the Master and Fellows of Saint Peter's
College, Cambridge, for the readiness with which, upon a similar
application, they lent the Council, for the use of Mr. Way, a valuable
MS., entitled Campus Florum.
The same exertions, in behalf of the Society, which former Councils have
acknowledged, have been continued to be made by the Local Secretaries,
and other friends of the Society resident in the country; and the
Council trust that such exertions will not be relaxed. To diffuse a
knowledge of the existence and objects of the Society tends, not merely
to promote its welfare, but also to carry out the purpose for which it
was established, by directing the attention of the possessors of MSS. to
those collections in which there yet exist, unpublished, inestimable
papers which this Society would be ready and willing to make available.
Messrs. Nichols have continued to the Council the same attentions, and
have rendered them the same valuable and gratuitous assistance in the
general management of the affairs of the Society, which they have given
from its Institution. Nothing can be more honourable to Messrs. Nichols,
or more advantageous to the Society; and the Council are assured, that
it is only necessary for them to state the fact to the Members, in order
to its being duly appreciated.
The Council have to regret the loss, by death, during the last year, of
the Rt. Hon. THOS. P. COURTENAY, who, in addition to valuable services
as a Member of the Council, was one of the Trustees of the Society, and
gave much attention to its affairs. The Council have filled up the
vacancy in the Trusteeship by electing to that office CHARLES PURTON
COOPER, Esq. LL.D., Q.C., F.R.S., F.S.A.
The Council have also to regret the death of HENRY BOWER, Esq. F.S.A.
the very zealous and efficient Local Secretary of the Society at
Doncaster; and also of the following other Members:
THOMAS BARNES, Esq.
GEORGE FREDERICK BELTZ, Esq. F.S.A. Lancaster Herald.
HENRY EYTON, Esq.
The Rev. THOMAS DUDLEY FOSBROKE, F.S.A.
F. T. GRAYLING, Esq.
Lieut.-Col. JOHN HARVEY.
JOHN HOLMES, Esq. F.S.A. East Retford.
THEODORE EDWARD HOOK, Esq. F.S.A.
HENRY MITCHISON, Esq.
JOHN MOORE, Esq. F.S.A.
The Right Hon. the Earl of MUNSTER, F.R.S., Pr.As.S.
The Rev. GEORGE FREDERICK NOTT, D.D., F.S.A.
EDWARD SKEGG, Esq. F.R.G.S.
JOHN SYDNEY TAYLOR, Esq.
Lieut.-Gen. WILLIAM THORNTON.
HENRY WOODTHORPE, Esq. F.S.A.
The Council report that the Treasurer, having found that other
engagements prevented his any longer devoting to the accounts and
financial correspondence of the Society the time and attention which,
after an experience of three years, he found to be absolutely necessary
to be given to them, submitted to the Council the propriety of their
accepting his resignation, or of making some other arrangement with
respect to the accounts. The Council, regarding the subject as one
vitally affecting the welfare of the Society, proceeded immediately to
take it into their consideration, and are happy to be able to report
that they have effected an arrangement by which the accounts are now
kept, and the financial correspondence is attended to, by the Secretary,
the Treasurer still continuing responsible to the Society. This
arrangement will put the Society to a small annual expense, which can
very well be afforded, and which the Council are persuaded the Members
will think well bestowed, if it has the effect of preserving accuracy in
the accounts. The recent arrangements in the Post Office render it easy
for country Members to transmit their subscriptions by Post Office
orders, which course the Council recommend to be adopted, making the
Post Office orders payable to the Treasurer.
After the lapse of four years of continuing prosperity the Council hope
that the Camden Society may be regarded as having taken a permanent
station amongst established publishing associations. Many societies have
been founded upon similar principles, and one considerably out-numbers
this Society in Members: but there is no one which can produce better
evidences of stability and prosperity, or which has greater reason to be
satisfied with the estimation in which its works are regarded by the
public. Amongst the Candidates for admission recently entered there are
many Public Libraries and other bodies, whose desire to participate in
the advantages of Membership indicates the reputation of the Society,
both in this and other countries; and the prices maintained by our books
when copies get abroad into the market, afford encouraging proof of the
demand for them on the part of collectors and literary men. In four
years the Society has issued eighteen volumes, all of them works
excluded from the ordinary mode of publication, and yet worthy of being
published, of eminent use to historical inquirers, and likely to retain
a place in the permanent literature of the country.
The forthcoming works are fully calculated to maintain, if not to
increase, the reputation of the Society, and the Council see no reason
to doubt but that the Society may long usefully and prosperously retain
its station, and the number of its Members.