The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1865-08-08 00:00:00

men-% ul

"Sermons in stones, and good in everything."
- he thought, thet there was very great
in the 'Archeological Institute. It had this
meriVrit had brought together many most beautiful
ladle); and also the noble president of the society;
and, under those circumstances he was sure that the
inluthitents of the town thanked them most
gratefully for their presence.
Mr. A. Realtseenb Horls M 15. remarked that
he found himself very dusty and unkempt, and •
very uncouth deers, something between a sportsman
and • geologist on • voyage of disoovery—(langhter),
—put hp to speak in a room he never saw before, in '
a town to which he was a perfect stranger, and to
ed auditory among which be saw many kind friends,
bet elm many new faces. Being naturally very shy,
irol very 'moron° to mix with the world, he threw
MMeelf on their compassion in his most unpleasant
predicament. He had been ordered by Mr. 'Tucker,
. Barth, the Rev. C. W. Bingham, and other
-great magnates of archeology, before whom be was
soeustonesd to prostrate himself with awe and revel.-
ence,tocome before them on thatoccasion, He could
Miura them that weseornedring like fairy-land. The
noble marquess and himself had the pleasure of takings
rein upon the Great Western railway, and they were
leaded at Dorchester only an hour too late. He
wield say that to the credit of that magnificient
'railway. What saw they t After many greets fields,
swelling hill tops, moors, waving pleb tenons of fir and
oak, and deep emerald green meadows, they came to
Doe-cheater. The drat thing that greeted them upon
their entrance was avenues of majestic treee such as
they reed of and met with in °out eutal tewns, and
of which they found too much nothing of in nglish
towns; forboulevards seemed to be a sort of pleasure
to obtain which they must endure the risks of
seii-eicknese. Impression number two was a pieta-
reigns pile of buildings with a dainty stone arcade
on the right hand side of the street. Impression
hthnber three was ruinous of an amphitheatre.
Ditto, member- four, an old world hall, in width
their friend (Mr. R. B. Sheridan) and your eloquent
representative, has pitched into , archeology.
(Laughter.) Those were omens which lead him to
believe that they should have • k-ery fruitful and
agreeable congress this the year of their majority,
when they had attained unto yeareof discretion, and
could judge for themselves whether they were happy
or not. But even on such occasions as thaw, serious
and touching thoughts might be allowed to mix with
their revelry. There was one circumstance that he
mold not but feel particularly struck by. When
they entered the room after their calamities through
the operations of the G. W. It, and which his noble
friend the president bore like a hero and a martyr,
the Lord Bishop of Salisbury was speaking, and
when he remembered what diooete they were in,
and that fact, he could not bat recall to mind cite of
the most touching inoidenta that ever moored
during the oongresses of the Institatte. Some ysra
ago the annual meeting was held in the tiny of which
the right rev, speaker was nOw the prelate, though
at that time his bonotirea predecessor (Bishop
Denison) filled the thrope, and he (Mr. Beresford
Hopi), with other members of the congress, had the
happiness to be his lordship's guest. Few people
knew at that time, when the Bishop of Sarum was
working so eagerly, not only for the enjoyment of
his company, but for the good or areherology, how
early and late he was labouring with most devoted
seal amongst them who were suffering under the
pestilence of thole* in that city. At this congress,
in which the Bishop of Salisbury had a right
to take hie place, he could not but recall the
connection there was between the see he filled and
the Institute, thr,ugh his predecessor. Be would
not detain them longer, but only express hope that
at the aid of the week they would- be able to give
them their beriedicite and would say that though
.they were odd, crotchety and eccentric, yet that they
were not bad fellows, and they (the Doreeetrians)
were not sorry to have brought them to this neigh--
bourbood. (Applause.)
Lord Cmcnitct remarked that Mr. Illereeford Hope
hadilianked them all in myth better terms than he
could, and, thereforeN be would say but a few words
to express his gratification in coming to what was to
him a new part of the Country. He was sure that
they would all tourer with him in regretting that
the chair was not filled by the late lamented neigh
lord,whom it w.a originally intended should preside,
the late Earl licheater. He was sure, as he mid
last year, in introducing Lord Leigh as president at
Warwick, that they would have derived great
benefit from having as their chairman one who was
well acquainted with the county, and with the
people dwelling in it. Hs could only assure them
that he would do his heat as their president, and he
hoped that they would give him their kind in-
dulgence. (Hear, hear.)
The Rev. C. W. Bortinati, man old archeologist,
and one of the original members of the Archteo-
logical Institute, expressed his cordial congratula-
tions on seeing his lordship and the other members
of the Institute precent. It had long Seen the aspi-
ration of his heart, as it was of his dear lamented
friend Earl Ilehester, that the Archeological
Luotattde should have • meeting in Dorset, the
antiquities of which had been 90 little examined;
and were so little understood. He prbceeded to
read his introductory sketch of the
airrrtiorrrin 07 DORSET.

Whitherer Minor questions may be raised respecting the
etymology of our county name, there can be, I presume,
no doubt that the word Dar or Dour, allied with the
Greek for water, is the root and foundation from
which it springs. This is found in the Durngueis
of Asser, hiniself a Briton, the Durnovaria of
Antonittits, the Doreastes or Derma/tie of the
Setae Chronicle, and dill retain it in the modem
names of Dorsetehire, and Dorchester, its ancient
oapital town. Whether in their original home on the
'ether aide of the Channel, or after their translaipaltat
this, oar ancestors, as weds, "dwelt by the wave
d through all the countless invasions that hate swept
„weer Mar hills and valleys during the last 3,000 years,
We have managed, somehow or other, to retain this
Stuart and fragmentary description of our habits and
locality. The last few years have done mach to erase
the more material relic/rot pre-historic times. It is now
no longer the case, as in Horace's days, that the builder
is the enemy to the plough, hat that the plough make
havoc of everything in the shape of building; yet still
I there are few parts of Rosined ivhfeh can aFord to
Sufficient a representation of primitive antiquity, and
indicate so clearly what Britain must have been even
thefore the oocupation of the Romane. Within three
Thus of Dorchester we have one of those • magnificent
AM forts—the memo of the Britons—which, like the
of the New Zealander, was probably the stronghold
of the tribe in seasons of aggression and warfare.
On the neighbouring height" in all directions may
be seen the tombs of "heave men who lived, perhaps,
before Agamemnon," still enjoying the distinetion
• which Hector promised to the champion who must op
pose hina—a tomb leaking over the broad sea, hc. It.
vii.B6. I need not eoterinto say detailed description,.
1 On Weduesday we trust it will be visited under the
guidance of those who are far morecompetent to do 'justice
to it than Ism. Sales it to say, that no grander specimen
of these fortresses exists amongst us; though Hutchins
reckons no less than some 251 n Dormetshire. I have
sometimes indulged in the thought that the Durotriges
might have one of these two validistimas genies, which
Vespasian subdued, together with the Isle of Wight,and
that some of these hill-forts mast have possibly been
included among the oppida which he is recorded to have
(tarried. To specify a few of the mere prominent :=-
Rroceeding • fdw miles to the westward, we come to
Regarden or Aggerdum and to the eastward, just
beyond Dalworth CaetM, to Flower's Barrow, near
V7imberne, to Itadbury, or lindbary-rings, the Baden.
--(ce of the Saxon Chronicile, and conjectured—may
say proved ?—by Dr. Guest to be the some of
battle—Mona "Woolens. Overhanging the
of Blaokmoor we have Rawlabury rings--
popularly called Bullbarrow dungeon; and
gad Hameldon, the twin giants, frowning down
se valley of the Stour. Near Bees Regis we shall
an opportunity of seeing Woodbury Hill, and near
ne St. Andrew, Weatherbury Castle or Castle-
Of the ordinary peaceful homes of the Britons I
that we have • right to expect any very alarm-
Alsatians. If, however, we are jnstified in sup-
. that there was any similarity between the domestic
as of the 'aermsnic tribes, as depicted by Tacitns,
theirs, we may trace quite enough to establish the
`A of no inoonsieemble population. "It is well
the historian, Germ o. xvi.) that the
:re no cities, nor even allow of connected
They live apart, wherever a spring, or a
,or a.wood attracts them. They build their villages,
as we do, with the houses close to each other; but
individual his house with an open spun,
a om the 'evident of truer is,
. They do not even air mortar
d.., without regard to beauty or '
only melierial. They also dig cub-
end bedaub them above with quantities
ism of refuge in winter, and as a recap-
Of both these classes of habitations
'ions are to be found in the
_ seema, slither in the urger
downs, or apparent on the surface of
s air 00114 Maiden Newton,Meloombe
to the whilst the Hyternotuths
Shilllandone, and
mom permanent
. _

there