SOMERSET ARCHÆOLOGICAL SOCIETY.--The annual meeting of this society took place on August 26 and two following days, in the neighbourhood of Shepton Mallet, Lord Carlingford, as president-elect, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, and Mr. E. A. Freeman taking part in the proceedings. Lord Carlingford, in his inaugural address, said it was most interesting to work their way through ages to the time when the oolite of Doulting was converted into the Abbey of Glastonbury and the Cathedral of Wells, and also into those humbler and charming sacred edifices which stood around them. He greatly sympathised with an eminent architect who at a meeting of the Archæological Institute last year said in regard to church restoration that the good which had been done had been mixed up with an amount of evil and destruction. The effort to bring about restoration to some architectural style or pattern selected by the restorer had led to much useless and mischievous change and destruction. The true word was not restoration, but preservation, and that idea ought to be present to the mind of everyone dealing with an ancient building. As a preventive there should be created and fostered an historic sense, an historic feeling in these matters. He knew no other safeguard, except that of the sense of respect and reverence and tenderness for the work of their forefathers--the desire that not only the years of their own lives, but the generations of men should be bound each to each by natural ties. The members afterwards examined the parish church of Shepton Mallet, and then proceeded to Doulting, where they inspected the quarries, the old tithe-barn and church, and St. Aldhelm’s Well, and on the return journey made a halt at Beacon Hill, where a mound on the summit, crowned by a rough upright stone, was the object of considerable curiosity. The Rev. H. M. Scarth said that such mounds were frequently found near Roman roads. At the evening meeting the following papers were read: “The Malet Family,” by Mr. Arthur Malet; “The Prebendary of Dinder,” by Canon Church; and “Extracts from Wills Relating to the County of Somerset,” by Mr. A. J. Monday.--On the second day an excursion was made to Leigh-on-Mendip, Mells, and Kilsmersdon, the churches and other objects of interest at each place being duly examined and commented upon. In the evening Mr. Scarth read a paper on “Roman Cookery;” among the other papers read were: “The Romans in Bath,” “Ham Hill,” and “The Penn Pits.”--The concluding day was devoted to Radstock. Mr. E. Green, the hon. secretary, read some notes which had been prepared by Mr. McMurtrie, on the Roman road through Somerset, which in its course from Bath to Ilchester passed through the parish of Radstock. The church, with its Norman font and early porch, was afterwards visited; the party also inspected the Fosse-road, here seen exactly as used and left by the Romans, a section having been cut through, and the surface cleared.--A