“The Society, having resumed their intention of advancing the Parochial Library, effected it with vigour answerable to their strength; and the books belonging to it were by these gentlemen removed from a damp, little, and inconvenient room, with a chimney difficult of access, and deposited in the Vestry.”
After the death of the Rev. John Wareing, the Society purchased from his widow the very valuable collection of books which he had formed, and divided them between the libraries at the church and Grammar School.
Papers called the Englishman, Guardian, Entertainers, and Lovers were taken in, and (so long as they meddled not with politics) were read; as were also the Honest Gentleman and the Spyes, so far as they were non-political.
At first the various acts and regulations of the Society were recorded on odd sheets of paper of various sizes and shapes. These were subsequently bound together and entitled “the first book of Minutes or the Institution Book.” Subsequently other volumes of minutes were duly kept; the sixth volume being in use at the time of the death of the founder. The entries in these books are chiefly by Maurice Johnson, and the illustrations are numerous, and several of them beautifully coloured by him. Each is bound in vellum, and has a book-plate engraved by Vertue. A motto, differing in each case, is affixed to each of the first four volumes. They form some of the most valued works belonging to the Society.
The varied nature of the communications received by the Society is indicated by the earliest of those recorded in the Institution Book. Thus, on November 10, 1712, there is a sketch of “The forme of a Tomb in the Cemetery of the Cathedral Church in Peterborough, in the County of Northᵗᵒⁿ on the south side near the choir, with yᵉ inscription thereon—
✠ AI̅A IOHANNIS DE SC̅O IVONIS QND̅M P̅ORIS Ꝑ MIÃM DI̅ IN PACE REC̅ESCAT. MDXII.
Anima Johannis de Sancto Ivone Quandam Prioris per Misericordiam Dei. In pace requiescat. M.D.xij.”
At the next meeting, held on 17th November, Mr. Maurice Johnson communicated to the Society “2 copies of Verses from the Revᵈ Mr. Francis Curtis, the one an Epistle from a Gentleman at Eaton to his Fʳᵈ at Cambridge, in Latine Hexametre and Pentametre; the other in English upon the D. of Marlborough’s goeing for Germany, where he commanded the Allyd army agᵗ the French and their allies.” He also gave a list of materials for painting in miniature, &c., collected from the directions of Albert Dürer and others, with the method of preparing them. The next week’s proceedings were of great interest. A Spalding halfpenny of 1667, showing a view of the old Town Hall, was exhibited by the secretary. The Rev. J. Wareing gave a “Description of a Journey to Bath, and of the Antiquities and Natural Curiosities of the City of Bath, in several Latin Epistles, attended with Drawings.” Next followed the “Exhibition of an Impression in Wax of a Brass Seal of Elizabeth Lady, Dutchess of Severki, in Poland.” This shows the figure of a lady seated on a side-saddle, with a hawk perched on her left hand, and a lure in her right hand. Thereupon followed a dissertation on hawking, on ladies’ habits, and on side-saddles, with reference to their introduction into England in 1382, by Queen Anne (daughter of Charles II. of Bohemia and Emperor of Germany), the wife of our King Richard II. Lastly comes “Inscriptum Picturæ Reverendi Martyrologistæ et S.T.P. Dni Johannis Foxij, Anno Domini 1509. Ætatis 70, penes Johan. L. Toley. Armiger apud Boston, ubi idem doctiss. Autor natus fuit.”
The admission of regular members was very strictly guarded.
“Persons proposed to be elected and admitted members, whose names, titles, degrees, and places of residence must be certified in writing by the regular member proposing them, with any two other members signifying also their assent thereto, must be minuted, notified, and put up by the Secretary at the two next succeeding meetings, and be balloted on the third. The proposer to be answerable for the donation of a guinea, or to that value, and for the first 12 months payment of such person or persons proposed, if a resident and elected member, at 12d. a month; saving all noblemen and gentlemen invited by the Society to become members, and of all foreigners, for the honour of the institution and carrying on a learned correspondence.”