Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 1.djvu/251



negligence and archæological ignorance of the last century was much more fatal to our national monuments than even the religious excitement of the period which immediately followed the Reformation. The number of early buildings, especially churches, which were sacrificed to the love of novelty, was greater than we can easily conceive. It is one of the chief objects of the British Archæological Association to put a stop to this wanton destruction, and it is conceived that this object will be more effectually secured by spreading information and a taste for the monuments of the arts of former days, than by more direct interference, except in cases where the latter is necessary to stop immediate destruction. Many interesting antiquities have escaped the danger which threatened them from the contempt of our fathers; and not a few of them, concealed in remote rural districts, have not yet met the eyes of those who are able fully to appreciate them. It is to be hoped that our Journal will be the means of bringing many of these unobserved monuments into notice, and