Page:The first report, etc., of the Lichfield Society.djvu/10

6 materials of wood and stone—upon correct Church principles, both as to the means and the end, for as little, if not less money, than is generally required to erect such a building in the unsuitable materials of brick, cast-iron, plaster and paint; upon principles—or rather, an inattention to principles—which, in the end, give but an imperfect, if not an irreligious idea of the purpose for which such buildings are intended.—This is a most important subject for the consideration of the Society, and one which the Committee strongly recommend to the future enquiries of its Members. The more active proceedings of this Society, which it may be hoped shortly to enter upon, have hitherto been materially retarded by the difficulty of procuring a room for its use, as a Committee Room and Library—for as its Members have had no place of common resort for the furtherance of their object, and the communication of their ideas, each Member has hitherto been acting in his own independent way, and the progress of the Society in Ecclesiastical knowledge has consequently been but little promoted; moreover as it has not yet had any nucleus upon which to concentrate its acquisitions, it is at present without the visible means of affording information to those whom it invites to receive the advice which it is its object to impart. This difficulty, however, is removed, and your Committee have great pleasure in reporting that a room is now at the disposal of the Society, and hope that those individuals who propose to benefit the Society by gifts of Books, Drawings, &c., (some of which have already been proffered), will take an early opportunityof placing their benefactions in the room which is prepared to receive them. There is another circumstance which at present prevents the Society from becoming very prominent in the promotion of its