Literary Institutions : The Antiquarian Society

THE ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY.

THE idea of instituting an Antiquarian Society in Newcastle upon Tyne originated with Mr. John Bell, jun. bookseller, Quayside, who circulated 75 printed letters, dated November 4, 1812, pointing out Northumberland and Durham as a rich and ample field for antiquarian research, and giving an outline of a plan for such an establishment. Being promised assistance, Mr. Bell convened a meeting of the gentlemen to whom his circular letter had been addressed, and which was held in the chambers of Mr. Adamson, on January 15, 1813. The gentlemen that attended appointed another meeting to be holden at the Concert-room on the 23d of the same month. This meeting, which consisted of seventeen gentlemen, Sir Charles M. L. Monck, Bart. being in the chair, formed itself into a Society, to be denominated "The Antiquarian Society of Newcastle upon Tyne," for the purpose of inquiring into antiquities in general, but more especially into those of the north of England, and of the counties of Northumberland, Cumberland, and Durham. Officers were then appointed, and a committee chosen, to draw up a code of statutes to govern the Society.

At the next meeting, held on the 6th of February, it was announced that the Duke of Northumberland, who had been appointed Patron of the Society, and Sir J. E. Swinburn, Bart. who had been chosen the President, had accepted those offices; (fn. 1) the statutes were read and sanctioned; and a resolution passed, that the committee of the Literary and Philosophical Society should be solicited to accommodate the Society with one of their rooms, until the mayor and corporation signified their acquiescence to the request made to grant a room in the Castle, in which the Society might hold its meetings and deposit its property. The Society was accordingly accommodated with an apartment below the library-room in the Groat Market, until November 3, this year, when they removed to the old Castle, where they continued until May, 1819. The Society next rented apartments in Messrs. Farrington's yard, Bigg Market, which they occupied until the New Building of the Literary and Philosophical Society was finished, in which two rooms were appropriated for their use. They held their 12th anniversary meeting on January 5, 1825, in their new apartments.

This Society consists of ordinary, corresponding, and honorary members. The number of the last two classes is unlimited; but only 100 members are admissible into the class of ordinary members. Candidates are admitted by ballot, and threefourths of the members present are required to confirm the elections. Each ordinary and corresponding member pays an admission fee of two guineas, and each ordinary member an annual subscription of one guinea. The general meetings are held the first Wednesday in every month, and the annual meeting on the first Wednesday in January; when, agreeably to a resolution passed at the anniversary meeting in 1824, the members who chuse dine together. The Society possess a cabinet of coins, a museum of fragments of antiquities, and a library of books on antiquities and coins. They have a seal, designed by Mr. Howard of the Royal Academy, and engraved by Mr. Wyon of the Royal Mint. A female figure is supposed to be reading the proceedings of the Society: she is seated on the fragment of a column, opposite to an altar found near Newcastle upon Tyne, and inscribed "Lamiis Tribvs:" beneath is written "Scripta Manent," and round the seal, "Sigillvm Societatis AntiQvariorvm Pontis Ælii. Mdcccxiii."

The Society has not evinced much zeal in the discovery of the remains of antiquity. One volume of their transactions has appeared, under the title of "Archæologia Æliana," which is chiefly valuable on account of some elaborate papers, from the pen of their learned and industrious senior secretary, the Rev. John Hodgson. Another volume, and a Catalogue of the Library and Cabinet, is announced to be in the press.

The library-room of this Society is ornamented with a model of their seal above the fire-place, executed and presented by Mr. Richard Farrington. The chairs and some other articles of furniture are very old-fashioned. Forty-nine guineas were subscribed by the members, to assist in furnishing their apartments. The second room is intended to be appropriated for small articles of antiquity, whose exposure without doors might be attended with difficulty or danger. The more massive altars, figures, &c. are to be placed against the walls "around the space of ground" behind the New Library, where they will be sheltered by the arcade which the committee of the Literary and Philosophical Society agreed to build for their reception. The Antiquarian Society complain that the delay in erecting this depository for antiquities prevents them from receiving donations of inscriptions, &c. which otherwise would have been presented, In order, therefore, to stimulate the committee of the Literary and Philosophical Society to a performance of their engagement, the Antiquarian Society, at their anniversary meeting, held on January 3, 1827, resolved to subscribe £40 towards the building of the arcade, and recommended that individual subscriptions should also be solicited in furtherance of the work.