a single member, approved by the Committee, or) by the Committee on the nomination of three members, in either case according to the form following:

I, (or we) the undersigned do hereby recommend

of, to be

a Member of the Cambridge Camden Society, believing him to be disposed to aid its designs,

(Signed)

III. Every member shall pay an annual subscription of one guinea, to be due on the first of January in each year. It shall be competent to any member to compound for all future subscriptions by one payment of ten guineas,

IV. If any member's subscription be in arrears for one year, he may be removed from the Society after due notice, at the discretion of the Committee. No member shall be considered entitled to his privileges as a member, whose subscription is in

arrear.

V. The affairs of the Society shall be conducted by a Committee consisting of six members, who shall be elected at the anniversary meeting in the month of May in each year, (the day and place being appointed by the Committee); and of whom three at least shall have been members of the Committee of the preceding year. The Committee so elected may subsequently add to their number.

VI. The Committee shall elect out of their own number a Chairman, Treasurer, and not more than three Secretaries. The President, and such of the Vice-Presidents as are pleased to attend, are members of the Committee.

VII. Two members, not being members of the Committee, shall be chosen annually by the Society at the same time with the Committee to audit the Society's accounts. VIII. The Society shall meet at such times and places as shall be appointed with due notice by the Committee.

IX. The officer in the chair shall be sole interpreter of the Laws, and shall have unlimited authority on every question of order.

X. No motion or communication shall be laid before the Society until it has been approved by the Committee.

XI. The Society invites its members to examine every church in their power, to furnish reports and drawings thereof to the Secretaries and to contribute original papers on any subject connected with its designs.

XII. The Society shall from time to time admit Associations formed on Church principles for the study of Ecclesiastical Architecture and Antiquities to the same privileges with respect to any meetings and publications of the Society as are granted to its own members.

Prof. LEE thought these proposed laws should be read.

The PRESIDENT said it was not proposed to pass those laws at that meeting they were merely distributed for the information of the members, that they might know they would be the basis upon which the new laws would be formed, if the meeting would sanction the resolution he would now read:

"That the Committee to be elected this evening be instructed to revise the laws on the basis of the scheme now submitted to the meeting." It was not proposed to pass the laws that evening, but simply to instruct the Committee about to be elected to revise the laws on the basis of the scheme in the hands of the meeting, which scheme omitted one part of the Committee's functions according to the existing usage of the Society. Professor LEE said, after that was done the laws must be submitted to a public meeting before they could be registered.

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The PRESIDENT repeated it was not proposed to put the question for decision then they were merely proposing that certain instructions be given for the revision of the laws, with a view to the omission of one of the functions of the Society as at present constituted. But really he thought he ought to be permitted to explain himself (hear). The scheme distributed in the room was merely a sketch of the laws, such as the Committee thought might be adopted so as to keep the frame work of the Society still together, consistently with the spirit of the recommendation of the Committee. When there was so much opposition manifested to the Society that many members thought the best thing that could be done would be to cease altogether, it was natural for the Committee to consider what part of the functions of the Society was liable to serious objection. The members of the Society were aware that its Committee was a very arbitrary body; and it had been established on more than one occasion that the efficiency of the Society depended in no small degree upon that power of its Committee. The functions of the Society consisted in answering applications for advice, in carrying on correspondence, in originating, exciting, he might say creating, activity in various departments of art,in advising upon the furniture and decorations of churches, &c. Some departments had been in a manner created by the operations of the Society, and it was undeniable that church restoration had been encouraged in places where it would perhaps have been scarcely thought of had it not been for the Society. Another function was the administration of the funds in the way he had spoken of; or in bringing out expensive works, such as that beautiful publication on the table, the chancel of Hawton church; or in employing architects to take working drawings of churches, and sending them to country clergymen, or to the colonies. In the carrying these matters into operation, the Committee was vested with great power, and those who subscribed the money did so knowing to whom it was entrusted. Another function of the Committee was the conducting the public meetings of the Society in the University, which commenced when the Society was in an infant state and most of its members were undergraduates, whereas at present the Society mainly consisted of members not residing in Cambridge, church officers, country clergymen, architects, church-restorers, &c. These meetings and that contact with the University the Committee thought rendered the continuance of their functions injurious to academic order. They felt that under the existing circumstances of the church, there were many matters which made it not right that the Society should be a sort of nucleus, around which the junior members of the University might form á body, the existence of which might be disagreeable to some persons in high station in the University. This portion of the Society's functions the Committee thought scarcely compatible with academic duty, and they were therefore unwilling to be connected with it any more. They did not think it right to undertake the management of meetings, where

they should call together, particularly in a place in which they were themselves under discipline and authority, a great many persons who might be viewed with distrust as forming an imperium in imperio, and whose meeting together had given offence to those whose opinions ought to be respected. That circumstance which was innocent when the Society existed only for private meetings, came to be very different when it had come to be involved, by whatever fault, in matters of controversy, and had assumed, if it were not presumptuous to say so, somewhat of a national instead of a local character. But the question whether something could not be done to get rid of the objection forced itself upon the consciences of the Committee, when they received letters, from all quarters, setting forth that, although it was right to pay all deference here to those to whom it was due, yet there was no reason why the other functions of the Society should cease, and much that was advantageous to the Church come to an abrupt conclusion. He could name 50 or 60 influential members of the Society who had written to himself, deprecating the dissolution, and asking if something could not be done by which any damage to discipline should te avoided, and the Society's practical operations carried on as before, He hoped the meeting would now understand what was in the mind of the Committee. They (the Committee) had to consider whether it was necessary that the Camden Society should cease to contribute to the encouragement of church building and the spread of information on ecclesiological matters, as well as to that comfort and support which persons engaged in the same pursuit derive from combination, and to the cause of church restoration, through the administration of funds given for specific purposes, and to be distributed on understood principles; whether they should be justified in putting a stop, so far as they were concerned, to these things, if they could find out a way by which subordination, peace, and charity could be preserved, without sacrificing those other things which were in reality the bona fide work of the Society. The laws as proposed to be revised he believed might be safely passed that night, for they had not been drawn up without care and legal advice; but inasmuch as it was not right to take the opinion of a large body without giving due time for reflection, they only now asked for such a resolution as should recognize a condition on which alone any of the present Committee might serve if elected by the Society. They wished the Society to continue as it was-its framework, principles, and operations the same, all the same except the meetings, and whatever brought its executive and resident members into so prominent a position in the eyes of the University (applause). The resolution, however, did not propose to make these laws binding at present: they might have a meeting în October, or at the end of the year, to ratify the rules as revised by the Committee. But the matter brought forward now concerned the part which the late Committee had in the business. It would have been very easy for the Committee to have retired, recommending the dissolution

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of the Society, and saying they would have nothing more to do with it. But would it have been doing their duty towards the Society, to have left it to the chance of not being taken up by somebody else? They felt it their duty to lay some proposition before the meeting, in case no member was prepared with a substantive plan for carrying on the operations of the Society. According to the plan they proposed, the Society would be able to go on as before, in all respects in which it could be useful. The Committee felt

it their duty to make such a proposal, as they could themselves, if required, partake in carrying out, because they had no right to recommend to the Society to carry on its business, without being provided with parties prepared to undertake it. If their recommendation were adopted, the Society would go on as before, with the exception that he had stated (applause). It might be asked why the Society should not go on without alteration at all? The Committee proposed and desired its dissolution; but that proposal had had the effect of bringing out a strong expression of opinion favourable to its continuance. The Committee remained silent till the last moment, and offered every facility, in the hope that some persons would come forward and propose some other plan. It was still in the hands of the Society to adopt such, if any were proposed: they might, if they chose, appoint a Committee without any change. But there was one thing which must be borne in mind. It was not for no purpose that he had been accustomed to put before the Society the necessity of adhering to the principles of churchrestoration which had beer maintained from the first. If the Society had not got some principles of its own, and had not established some things in church architecture, perhaps there would have been no occasion for him to address them from that place. It was because the Society had committed itself to some principles, be they right or wrong-because there was such a thing as Camdenism," that they were placed in their present position (hear, hear). If they believed that the majority of the Society desired that advice should still be given, and its funds administered on the same principles it had always professed namely, those of church architecture, then it was not a matter of indifference whom they elected to carry on the business of the Society (hear). The Society had laid down rules and brought out principles of architectural arrangement by which it was known, and by which many, the architect from York, for instance, elected this evening' had been induced to join it, who would not have joined it unless it were to be carried on with the same views (hear, hear). They had heard that a young and lamented member of the Society had left £6,000, of which £1,000 was to be appropriated to a particular church, and the remainder at the discretion of the Society. Did any mortal doubt on what understanding that money was bequeathed (applause)? Did he give it to block up chancels? (loud cries of "No, no"). Did he give it to put a bason near the altar? (continued cries of “No, no.") If, indeed, there were an altar. No one could misunderstand the intention of that bequest-he did not. If any

committee were placed in office, which was not prepared to carry out the known architectural principles of the Society, then he said the executors of that gentleman would not be justified in paying the money, and probably they would not pay it-(hear.) Then was he not right in pointing out these things as explaining why the committee felt themselves under a strong obligation to keep the Society together, if they could do ít consistently with the higher duties that they might owe to the Church and the University? But at the same time they would be no party to a delusion on the public, by any act which should entirely alter the character of the Society-(hear, hear). It was their duty, when so many wished the Society to continue, to remain members of it, and if wanted, to serve it, if they could do so consistently with their duty as members of the University. The present proposal was intended to meet the altered condition of the Society. The Society, however affectionately it must always cling to Cambridge as its cradle, could not now be called an academic body; the most numerous and influential members of it were out of the University, and of the influential members of the University not many in fact belonged to it. It was in. reality rather a national than a University Society. It had got out of petticoats and was walking about in cloth clothes-(laughter.) In drawing up the scheme of rules, some little matters might have been left out, but any member would, at any time, be at liberty to make suggestions, which would of course be considered by the committee. With respect to the holding of meetings, the time would come when the present committee would be defunct; with another executive and under other circumstances, it might, perhaps, be felt quite proper to resume the meetings; but the present committee certainly did not feel at liberty to conduct them. The large sum of money placed at the Society's disposal even in itself was not a matter to be neglected; indeed it seemed the duty, and was the intention, of the committee to hold the Society together, at all events, until the benevolent designs of the donor were completely fulfilled. That might have been done, perhaps, by limiting the operations of the Society to the disposal of that money, but all care had been taken as to legal advice, and the plan proposed by the committee had been submitted under the sanction of such advice. With respect to Mr. Currey's question, he believed there was no doubt whatever that the £6,000 was the property of the Society, and would be paid in the course of the year. There was no difficulty, he believed, on the part of the executors, who were on the contrary desirous to fulfil the intention of the testator, as were the committee, in the spirit which animated him-(hear, hear.) He had also reason to believe that another gift to a large amount had been made to the Society, although not yet paid ; perhaps it was in abeyance during the present unsettled condition of the Society. He spoke in the presence of those who could correct him if he were wrong, when he said that if any alteration were made in the constitution of the Society, the bequest might be contested. He mentioned this that they might