Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/431

 ANNUAL MEETING. 31:3 by the visitors in aid of this work, for which funds are insufficiently supplied. Some of the party visited the Roman Catholic Chapel of St.Birinus, recently erected, and examined the ancient painted glass, stated to have been removed from Dorchester Abbey. They inspected also a curious chasuble, with a rich orfray (attributed to the early part of the fourteenth century), the property of Mr. Davy, a farmer, by whose family it had been preserved since the Reformation. The members then proceeded to visit the Carfax Conduit, removed in 1787 by the Earl of Ilarcourt, and preserved in the park at Nuneham. They examined the allegorical figures with which it is ornamented, and of which a contemporary description had lately been dis- covered. Some of the party stopped at Sandford, to examine the archi- tectural features of the church, and a remarkable relic of ancient sculpture, representing the Assumption of the Virgin. In the evening the Society re-assembled at the Town Hall, when a com- munication was made from Daniel Wilson, Esq., Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, in reference to the law of " Treasure Trove," and the prejudicial hindrance to archaeological science by the operation of that feudal right. He stated that strenuous endeavours had been made in Scotland to call attention to the injurious results of the existing law, and he forwarded a circular issued by the officers of the Crown, showing that they are desirous of affording every facility in their power to promote archaeological research, and to carry out the existing law in the most liberal spirit. Amongst Scottish antiquaries a general desire subsists to see the Danish law adopted as a model. In that country, the finder receives from the Crown the full value, or even in some cases more than the value, of precious objects discovered. But the State exacts that all such remains (of the precious metals) shall be given up to be preserved in the Public Museums, under certain penalties in case of concealment. The owner of the soil receives the value only in cases when the discovery has been made under his directions. The finder receives payment without any delay, a regulation which has proved most efficacious, and scarcely any relics of gold or silver have for many years, as it is stated, been lost to the National Museum. Mr. Wilson advocated warmly the beneficial results which a similar system would insure in our own country, although, at first view, it might appear arbitrary and injurious to the rights of the lord of the soil : and he pointed out the evils winch had arisen from the deficiency of a liberal spirit in the promoters of public collections, whilst in private hands many precious relics, links in the archaeological series, arc lost to science, and arc rarely to be traced after the lifetime of the finders or first possessor. A warm discussion ensued in reference to this important question, and great diversity of opinion prevailed : it was finally agreed that the considera- tion of the arguments forcibly advanced by Mr. Wilson should be recom- mended to the committee of the Institute. The proceedings closed with a discourse, deUvered by Mr. C Winston on the art of glass painting, and on the valuable specimens of ancient glass existing at Oxford. FuiDAY, June 21. The different Sections resumed their meetings at an early hour. In the Historical Section a memoir was read by Mu. .John Goi'nii Nichols, F.S.A., on the descent of the Earldom of Oxford. VOL. VII. T T