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Archaeologia Cantiana -  Vol. 1  1858   page lvii

INAUGURAL MEETING of the Kent Archaeological Society

in describing any interesting relic of the past in your own neighbourhoods, and send the description to that paper; you will soon acquire confidence for greater achievements. But, above all, remember that the sole object of your researches ought to be Truth, Have as many theories as you please,—I have had thousands in my time,—but always be ready (as I have been) to discard them at once, even the most long-cherished ones, the moment you find the Truth opposed to them. Without this devotion to Truth, we are nothing but frivolous triflers. There is abundance of material for you to work upon; indeed, throughout the county of Kent there are so many objects of intense interest to the antiquary, that it is difficult at this moment to select any one for special remark. Within a short walk from the spot where we stand, the relics of the past are scattered, thick as the herbage on which you tread, and these, not of one race of conquerors only, but of every successive one that has planted itself here,—Celtic, Roman, Saxon, Norman, or whatever other early races maybe named as having, in primeval times, peopled this county. Of the latter period —the Norman, or nearly so—we have close to us Alington Castle, that most interesting of ruins, of which we have actual records dating as far back as the time of Henry II.; in aftertimes the seat, in successive generations, of the three illustrious Wyats; subsequently of Sir John Astley and his greater relative, that true and loyal cavalier, the Lord Astley; it has finally
become the property of a family which can enumerate among its ancestors that most eminent antiquary and loyalist Sir John Marsham, and now represented by a noble Earl who thoroughly appreciates the value of these venerable walls as historical relics, and who has earned the gratitude of antiquaries by sparing them from further demolition. Then, again, we have in this neighbourhood another historical mansion, in whose past we shall find abundant materials for' our volume, " Leeds Castle' famous for having barred out the " she-wolf of France" (Isabel, consort of Edward II.). There are many other similar objects of historical interest, all within a walk, which I have not time to enumerate; and I cannot better conclude than by hoping that you may all share with me in the feelings of the poet (Webster):
      "I do love these ancient ruins,—
       We never tread upon them, but we set
       Our foot upon some reverend history."

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