Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/13



steady progress which has been made in the study of Archaeology during the last few years, and the increasing interest which the subject is now generally exciting, justify the feeling of congratulation with which the Committee regard the commencement of the seventh volume of the transactions of the Institute. Under such encouraging auspices the hope may now fairly be indulged that a healthful stimulus in a right direction has been given, of which the effects will be lasting, and from which the most important results may confidently be expected. The numerous societies established of late years all over the kingdom, for the express purpose of advancing these objects, are a proof of the value that is now being attributed to such inquiries, while the spirit in which they are conducted tends to elevate antiquarian studies far above the character which they formerly had of mere learned but unprofitable trifling. Though there always have been a few unobtrusive, painstaking, and devoted students who have dedicated themselves to the interesting work of preserving, and, so far as their opportunities enabled them, illustrating the remains of the past; yet, unrecognised and unhonoured by the world at large, their only reward has too often been found in the gratification that has attended the pursuit: and such lights as they were able to throw upon obscure and curious points of antiquarian interest glimmered but feebly and partially in the vast gloom of ignorance and apathy which surrounded them. The principles that should direct this study, and