The Committee appointed by the Society of Antiquaries to consider what
improvements could be introduced into its management, has at length issued
a Report; and we are glad to find that the alterations suggested by them
have been frankly adopted by the Council. The principal changes proposed
refer to the election of the Council; the having but one Secretary, who is
not to be a member of that body; the appointment of Local Secretaries; the
retirement annually of the Senior Vice-President; and lastly, that which
more than anything else must operate for the future benefit of the Society,
the appointment of a third Standing Committee, to be called _The Executive
Committee_, whose duty shall be "to superintend the correspondence of the
Society on all subjects relating to literature and antiquities, to direct
any antiquarian operations or excavations carried on by the Society, to
examine all papers sent for reading, all objects sent for exhibition, and
to assist the Director generally in taking care that the publications of
the Society are consistent with its position and importance." It is easy to
see that if a proper selection be made of the Fellows to serve on this
Committee, their activity, and the renewed interest which will be thereby
awakened in the proceedings of the Society, will ensure for the Thursday
Evening Meetings a regular supply of objects for exhibition, and papers for
reading, worthy of the body--and therefore unlike many which we have too
frequently heard, and to which, but for the undeserved imputation which we
should seem to cast upon our good friend Sir Henry Ellis, might be applied,
with a slight alteration, that couplet of Mathias which tells--
"How o'er the bulk of these _transacted_ deeds
Sir Henry pants, and d----ns 'em as he reads."
We have now little doubt that better days are in store for the Society of
Antiquaries.
The Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute commences at Chichester
on Tuesday next, under the patronage of the Dukes of Norfolk and Richmond,
and the Bishop of Chichester, and the Presidentship of Lord Talbot de
Malahide. There is a good bill of fare provided in the shape of Lectures on
the Cathedral, by Professor Willis; excursions to Boxgrove Priory,
Halnaker, Godwood, Cowdray, Petworth, Pevensey, Amberley, Shoreham, Lewes,
and Arundel; excavations on Bow Hill; Meetings of the Sections of History,
Antiquities, and Architecture; and, what we think will be one of the
pleasantest features of the programme, the Annual Meeting of the Sussex
Archaeological Society, in the proceedings of which the Members of the
Institute are invited to participate.
BOOKS RECEIVED.--_A Glossary of Provincialisms in Use in the County of
Sussex_, by W. Durrant Cooper, _second edition_: a small but very valuable
addition to our provincial glossaries, with an introduction well worth the
reading. We shall be surprised if the meeting of the Institute this year in
Sussex does not furnish Mr. Cooper with materials for a third and enlarged
edition.--_The Traveller's Library_, No. 44., _A Tour on the Continent by
Rail and Road_, by John Barrow: a brief itinerary of dates and distances,
showing what may be done in a two months' visit to the Continent.--No. 45.
_Swiss Men and Swiss Mountains_, by Robert Ferguson: a very graphic and
well-written narrative of a tour in Switzerland, which deserves a corner in
the knapsack of the "intending" traveller.--_The Essays, or Counsels Civil
and Moral, by Francis Bacon, Viscount St. Alban_, edited by Thomas Markby:
a cheap edition of this valuable "handbook for thinking men," produced by
the ready sale which has attended _The Advancement of Learning_ by the same
editor.--_Reynard the Fox, after the German Version of Goethe_, with
Illustrations by J. Wolf, Part VII., in which the translator carries on the
story to _The Outlawry_ in well-tuned verse.--_Cyclopaedia Bibliographica_,
Part X. This tenth Part concludes the first half of the volume of authors
and their works; and the punctuality with which the Parts have succeeded
each other is a sufficient pledge that we shall see this most useful
library companion completed in a satisfactory manner.
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