230 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
In accordance with the rules nominations of new members of Council and
officers for 1891 were made, in view of the elections at the Annual Meeting.
The President gave notice, on behalf of the Council, that the Annual Meeting
would be made "Special," for the purpose of considering the scheme for the amal-
gamation of the Essex and Chelmsford Museum with the Club, and other matters.
Mr. Chalkley Gould exhibited nine plates from the travels of Cosmo III.,
Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1669 (Charles II.), illustrating places in Essex. The
travels were written at the time of the journey by Count Lorenzo Magalotti, a
scholar who enjoyed the friendship of Sir Isaac Newton and of almost every
great literary personage of Europe. Though the work was written in 1669 it
does not appear to have been translated into English until 1821, when the portion
relating to this country was printed for J. Mawman, of Ludgate Street, London,
from the original MSS. in the Laurentian Library at Florence. The book con-
tains some quaint references to various parts of Essex passed through by the
Duke and his suite. The plates or designs were made by artists in the suite of
the Duke, and were printed in facsimile from the original drawings which
accompany the MSS. They are poor in design and defective in perspective,
and show the decline of Florentine art.
Mr. Crouch exhibited a Kingfisher taken at the side of the Eagle Pond, Snares-
brook, in September last. Mr. Fitch remarked that there was great destruction
of these beautiful birds all around the Eastern Coast. Near Maldon they come
down in severe weather to the rills in the "saltings," and it is possible for "the
man with a gun" to shoot six or eight in a day.
The Secretary alluded to the death of Mr. Wm. D'Oyley, an original member
of the Club, who had acted as Honorary Surveyor during the work of exploration
of the Forest Camps. Mr. D'Oyley was the first Superintendent of the Forest
when the Corporation took it over under the Epping Forest Act. He died at
Leytonstone on December 21st, in his 78th year.
Mr. Cole proposed that the best thanks of the Club be sent to Mr. E.
N. Buxton and Sir Fowell Buxton for the active part they had taken in the
acquirement of a portion of Highams Park, as an addition to the Forest. The
sum required for the purchase was £6,000, of which the Corporation of London,
as Conservators of the Forest, provided one half, and the other moiety had been
subscribed locally, Mr. Buxton and Sir F. Buxton subscribing £1,800. The land,
amounting to 30a. 2r. 29p., would be thrown open to the public early in the
ensuing year. The Club had always taken such an interest in the Forest that he
felt sure they would cordially acknowledge the services of the above-named
gentlemen, to whose kindness also the public owed the beautiful plot of land at
Theydon Bois (Oak Hills) thrown into the Forest last year.
The President, in seconding the motion, said that everybody knowing anything
about Forest matters must feel greatly indebted to Sir Fowell and Mr, E. N. Buxton,
and he thought that the sooner the Club registered that opinion the better. The
motion was carried unanimously.
The following papers were read, "Biographical Notice of Ezekiel George
Varenne,'' by Prof. G. S. Boulger, F.L.S. (read by the Secretary in the author's
absence), and "Note on Hydrobia jenkinsi" by Edgar A. Smith, F.Z.S., President
of the Conchological Society (read, in Mr. Smith's absence, by Mr. Crouch, who
added a few notes of his own on the species).
Votes of thanks were passed to the authors and the meeting ended.