Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 9.djvu/470

374 PROCEEDINGS AT MEETINGS OF Antiquities discovered in our own country, and the appointment of a special Curator, — hopeful evidences that the Trustees of the British Museum have at length recotrnised the importance of preserving National vestiges of every period in the National Museum, — your Committee would take this occasion to urge upon the Members of the Institute the duty of rendering their aid to this good work, by presenting Antiquities to this collection. The munificence of our noble Patron, the Duke of Northumberland, already alluded to, and the honour conferred by his Grace upon the Institute, in making our Society the direct medium of his presentation of the Stanwick Collections to the British Museum, must ever be held by our Members in grateful remembrance. It must be regarded as the cogent impulse which has mainly conduced to obtain from the Trustees of the Museum the long-desired boon of a distinct and suitable Repository for National Antiquities. Each Member of the Institute has an interest in the endeavour to render such a Collection as complete and extensive as possible. With an earnest desire, therefore, that every aid should be rendered by the Institute to so important an object, your Committee would take the present occasion to recommend that discretionary power should henceforth be entrusted to them by the Society, authorising them to transfer to the National Museum, with consent of the donors, such ancient relics as may have been, or, from time to time may be, presented to the Institute, and which may appear by their rarity or their importance more properly suited to occupy a position in the series at the British Museum. The liberality of the Duke of Northumberland, in the promotion of Archaeological researches, had been on several occasions evinced, in con- nexion with the proceedings of the Institute ; and a very gratifying instance was presented on the occasion of the survey of the remarkable Earthworks upon his Grace's estate at Stanwick, so skilfully made by Mr. MacLauchlan, by his directions in 1848. The maps and description of those entrenchments have been published, by the permission of the Duke, in the Journal of the Institute.^ To that work has now succeeded an undertaking of greater importance, — the valuable Survey of the " Watling Street," from Pierse Bridge to the Scottish Border, achieved through his munificence. This, which may be described as the first contribution, of any extended character, towards a more precise knowledge of the ancient Geography of our country by actual survey, has now been published by the Institute, through the gracious permission of their noble Patron ; it presents a most important aid to our researches into the earlier vestiges in the Northern counties. It aff'ords likewise a fresh evidence of the ability and successful perseverance in the examination of ancient remains in Britain, which Mr. MacLauchlan, to whom the Duke had entrusted this survey, had shown in that of Silchester and various Military Works in other parts of England. The accompanying memoir, which Mr. Mac Lauchlan has kindly placed at the disposal of the Institute, comprises a detailed record of his obsei'vations in the course of the undertaking, and supplies important evidence in elucida- tion of the enquiries suggested by this valuable survey. It is with the highest gratification that the Committee would advert to a work of greater magnitude, forthwith to be commenced by his Grace's direction, the complete survey of the Roman Wall, and of all the works connected with that extraordinary monument of Roman enterprise. 3 Archaeol. Joux'u., vol. vi. pp. 213, 335.