invited guest, Lord Avebury, was unavoidably absent through illness, proved a great success, the attendance being the largest yet secured at any of these pleasant social reunions. The Society was however favoured with the presence of Prof. Gonner, who was warmly greeted as representing University College.

Prof. MacCunn's valuable paper on "The Cynics," printed in Volume LVI, the Council is pleased to regard as another link connecting the Society with that active centre of learning.

Owing to deaths, removals, and especially to that marked tendency to specialisation, which has led during the last twenty years to the foundation of numerous literary and scientific societies in the city for the study of special subjects, the membership of this Society has for some years been falling off. The Council hopes that members will lay this matter to heart, and, if possible, induce friends to join during the ensuing session.

The Treasurer's accounts were submitted and adopted. The following offices were elected for the ensuing session-Vice-Presidents-Mr. A. Theodore Brown, reelected, Mr. J. Hampden Jackson, F.R.G.S., F.C.I.S., re-elected, and Rev. W. E. Sims, A.K.C.L. Hon. Treasurer-Mr. J. W. Thompson, B.A., re-elected. Hon. Librarian-Mr. J. W. Thompson, B.A. (acting). Hon. Secretary-Mr. Edward G. Narramore, L.D.S., Eng.

The following members were elected to serve on the Council in place of the five retiring members :-Mr. M. Hinchliff, Dr. K. Monsarrat, Mr. Wm. Wortley, Mr. Hugh Farrie, and Mr. Chas. Daly.

The Associates were re-elected.

The President then read his address entitled "A Note on the Classic and Romantic Elements in English Literature of the Eighteenth Century."

ORDINARY MEETINGS.

I. 20th October, 1902. The President, Rev. E. A. Wesley, occupied the chair. Mr. R. C. Johnson, F.R.A.S., exhibited six photographs of Perrine's Comet, taken at his residence, Fern Grove, between 12th September and 8th October, 1902, with a 44 inch portrait lens attached to an equatorial telescope. The time of exposure varied between twenty and forty minutes. Dr. A. E. Hawkes, F.C.S., read a paper entitled "Wayside Notes on the Washington Ancestry." The paper was illustrated by lantern slides.

II. 3rd November, 1902. The President, Rev. E. A. Wesley, occupied the chair. The President made a communication on the subject of Druidic Symbolism, with special reference to some recent discoveries near the Isle of Beckey, in Somersetshire. Dr. John Newton, M.R.C.S., read a paper entitled "Stonehenge - Some Glimpses of the Architecture, Astronomy, and Religion of the Ancient Britons." The paper was illustrated by lantern slides, coins, and books.

III. 17th November, 1902. The President, Rev. E. A. Wesley, occupied the chair. The President quoted some passages from the poems of Miss May Kendal, an authoress who was associated in the earlier years of her life with this city. Rev. John Sephton, M.A., read a paper entitled "Notes on a Lancashire Dialect."

IV. 1st December, 1902. The President, Rev. E. A. Wesley, occupied the chair. Mr. Alfred W. Newton, M.A., having consented to again fill the office of Hon. Librarian was re-instated, Mr. J. W. Thompson, Acting Hon. Librarian, retiring. Rev. Dr. L. de Beaumont Klein F.L.S., read a paper entitled "Ypres; What it has been and what it now is, or a Memorable Chapter in the

History of Manufactures." The paper was illustrated by lantern slides.

V. 15th December, 1902. The President, Rev. E. A. Wesley, occupied the chair. Mr. Richard Steel read a paper entitled "Corollaries of Evolution."

VI. 12th January, 1903. The President, Rev. E. A. Wesley, occupied the chair. Dr. J. Birkbeck Nevins read a paper entitled "Liverpool, Past and Present." The paper was illustrated by lantern slides.

VII. 26th January, 1903. The President, Rev. E. A. Wesley, occupied the chair. Mr. Roland J. A. Shelley read a paper entitled "Cromwell's Irish Campaign."

VIII. 9th February, 1903. The President, Rev. E. A. Wesley, occupied the chair. Rev. W. E. Sims, A.K.C.L., read a paper entitled "Dr. Samuel Johnson."

IX. 23rd February, 1903. The President, Rev. E. A. Wesley, occupied the chair. Dr. J. Murray Moore, F.R.G.S., read a paper entitled "The Kaleidoscopic Mind of Childhood."

X. 9th March, 1903. The President, Rev. E. A. Wesley, occupied the chair. Dr. John W. Ellis read a paper entitled "Wanderings in Wessex, chiefly in the footsteps of Thomas Hardy." The paper was illustrated by lantern slides.

XI. 23rd March, 1903. Mr. James Birchall, ExPresident, occupied the chair. Dr. J. Murray Moore, F.R.G.S., read a paper entitled "A Tour in the Bavarian Highlands and the Black Forest." The paper was illustrated by lantern slides.

XII. 6th April, 1903. Mr. A. Theodore Brown, VicePresident, occupied the chair. Mr. James Birchall read a paper entitled "How the French lost the Empire of India."

XIII. 20th April, 1903. The President, Rev. E. A.

Wesley occupied the chair. In accordance with the special business of the meeting, the Rev. W. E. Sims, A.K.C.L., was unanimously elected President of the Society for the session commencing in October. The very cordial thanks of the Society were given to the Rev. E. A. Wesley for his services to the Society during his second year of office. Mr. Richard Eastley read a paper entitled "Utopia: 'Natural Society' and ' Village Communities.""

ORDINARY MEMBERS ELECTED DURING THE SESSION.

Mrs. Percy Ogden, Rev. S. Jackson, M.A., Mr. Joseph Cooke, Mrs. Crawford, Mr. T. Martin-Jones, Miss T. M. James, Mr. Thomas Ogden.

The attendances during the session were as follows:Annual Meeting, 45; Ordinary Meetings, 68, 60, 75, 39, 40, 150, 45, 40, 52, 48, 58, 40, 25.

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NINETY-THIRD SESSION, 1903-04.

ANNUAL MEETING.

The Annual Meeting of the Society was held at the Royal Institution, on 5th October, 1903.

The President, Rev. W. E. Sims, A.K.C.L., occupied the chair.

The following Report of the retiring Council was read and adopted:

REPORT.

The Ninety-second Session of the Society (1902–3) was inaugurated by an Address delivered by the President, Rev. E. A. Wesley, M.A., in his second year of office: and, during the thirteen meetings that followed, papers of both general and special interest were read.

The Annual Dinner was held in December, and the guests invited were Rev. J. P. Mahaffy, D.D., and Mr. Hall Caine; but, through the regretted indisposition of Mrs. Hall Caine, the Society unhappily had to forego the company of Mr. Hall Caine.

During the Session, death has removed from the roll of Members several friends of the Society, whose loss we record with the deepest regret. We have to deplore the lamented decease for Mr. Hugh Hunter, for twenty years a regular attendant at our meetings; Sir James Poole, J.P., Life Member, Mayor of Liverpool in 1886-7, whose connection with the Society covered a period of 17 years; Mr. Josiah Marples, who joined in 1873, and for many years rendered invaluable services in connection with the publication of the Annual Volumes of Proceedings; and