have been received has led the Council to determine on producing a similar volume for the subscribers of the ensuing year. The poem selected is Goldsmith's "Tra veller," which will be illustrated by 30 engravings on wood. Messrs. Richard Ansdell, J. Absolon, E. Corbould, Frederick Taylor, W. E. Frost, A.R.A., John Gilbert, F. Goodall, R. Huskisson, W. L. Leitch, Clarkson Stanfield, R.A., E. H. Wehnert, E. M. Ward, A.R.A., J. D. Harding, G. Hodgson, F. W. Topham, E. Duncan, E. Armitage, and Thomas Webster, R.A. have already accepted commissions for the drawings. The engraving of The Crucifixion," by Mr. W. Finden, after Hilton, is advancing towards completion. Messrs. Bacon, Edward Goodall, and Shenton, are making progress respectively with "The Burial of Harold" (after Mr. F. R. Pickersgill), "The Irish Piper" (after Mr. F. Goodall), and Richard Coeur de Lion forgiving Bertrand de Gourdon" (after Mr. John Cross). In addition to these, which, as mentioned in the last report, are being engraved on steel, as an experiment on the practicability of ceasing to electrotype the same plate for all the subscribers, the Council have placed "The Villa of Lucullus," by Mr. Leitch, in the hands of Mr. Willmore, to be engraved for the Society. Each subscriber of the ensuing year will be entitled to obtain an impression of one of these engravings-the particular print which each will receive being decided by lot. Statuettes in porcelain of "The Dancing Girl reposing," allotted last year, are in the course of completion, and will shortly be distributed to the prizeholders entitled to them. The engraving of "Queen Philippa interceding for the Lives of the Burgesses of Calais," by Mr. H. Robinson (after Mr. Selous), is in progress.

The

figure of "Thalia," in cast iron, already mentioned on several occasions, is now so near completion that the members to whom it was allotted may expect to obtain it forthwith. The reverse of the "Wren " medal has been completed by Mr. Benjamin Wyon, and the die is now being hardened. The medals commemorative of

Hogarth allotted at the last meeting have been delivered to those entitled to receive them. The Flaxman medal, allotted some time since, and delayed by circumstances which the Council were unable to control, has been undertaken by Mr. W. Wyon, R.A. Dies for a medal in honour of Inigo Jones are in the course of execution by Mr. C. F. Carter.

The sum set apart for the purchase of works of art by the prizeholders them. selves (3,2057.) was thus allotted:

Sixteen works at 107.; fifteen at 157.; twelve at 20.; twelve at 251.; twelve at 401.; seven at 501.; five at 601.; four at 701.; four at 807.; two at 1007.; one at 1501.; one at 2001. To these were added -20 bronzes of the Queen, after Chantrey (some of which were allotted last year); 50 statuettes of Narcissus, after Gibson ; 300 proof impressions, "Queen Philippa interceding for the Lives of the Burgesses of Calais;" 300 lithographs of "St. Cecilia," by Mr. Maguire, after Mr. Tenniel; and 30 medals commemorative of Inigo Jones; making in the whole 791 prizes of art. The total sum appropriated to the purchase and production of works of art, including the estimated cost of the engravings, is 7,5307. 98. 2d.

The prize of 2007. value was drawn by Mr. G. Appleyard, of St. James's-place; that of 150. by the Rev. C. Lane, of Wrotham; those of 1007. by Messrs. W. Biggs, of Conduit-street, and J. U. Martin, of East Dereham.

SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES.

Feb. 8. Viscount Mahon, President, in the chair.

His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury was elected a Fellow of the Society.

Thomas Windus, esq. F.S.A. exhibited various specimens of chased works of artin gold, silver, and ivory-belonging to himself and some of his friends, to which the several dates of 1530, 1620, 1640, and 1660 were assigned; that of 1530 was a pax, which, from the cognizance stamp, he considered to be the work of Benvenuto Cellini.

The Rev. Edward Wilton, of West

Lavington, near Devizes, exhibited the drawing of a Copper Shield or Badge found near that place, bearing the arms of the elder house of Lancaster, descended from the younger son of King Henry III. It was accompanied by a letter from T. W. King, esq. York Herald, containing some remarks on the peculiarity that each file or point of the label contains only two fleurs-de-lis, and not three, the usual number when more than one charge occurs. The same remarkable deviation from what appears to have been a general practice happens in three royal shields in the roof of the magnificent church at Yar

mouth in Norfolk, which are described in a paper by Mr. King, read before the Norfolk and Norwich Archeological Society.

Sir Henry Ellis communicated a letter, from Queen Elizabeth to Sir William Pelham, Knt. Lord Justice of Ireland, blaming him for negligence in the government of that realm (which will be found in No. 17 of the Society's Minutes of Proceedings, lately issued).

The Secretary then read a Memoir by Edward Foss, esq. F.S.A. on the Justices of Trailbaston, a species of itinerant judges, whose office continued from the 33rd Edw. I. 1305, to the 16th Rich. II. In the Annals of Worcester, under the year 1305, it is said that "hoc anno Justiciarii Domini Regis, qui vocantur Trailbaston, primo itineraverunt." Thomas Trivet, in his Annals (page 404), says that this name was given to them by the people" ab hominibus popularibus vocati sunt de Traylebastoun; 64 adding quod sonat Trahe-baculum." Holinshed translates this last expression, "which signifieth traile or draw the staff;" and Jacob, in his Law Dictionary, professing to quote from Holinshed, calls this staff "the staff of justice." Thus, out of Trivet's simple statement of a fact, "an hypothesis is framed for which his words give no authority, namely, that these justices were so styled from trailing the staff of justice." Mr. Foss traces the name, and the early practice of its office, in Mr. Wright's "Political Songs of England" (published by the Camden Society); and in Peter Langtoft's Chronicle, which show that it was the outlaws themselves who were called Traylbastouns, or draw-staffes: they formed an illegal association, 66 sworn together to undertake private quarrels at fairs and markets,-for three or four shillings, or merely to shew their courage,to beat a good man, who never did hurt to any Christian body."

Feb. 15. Henry Hallam, esq. V.P. The President announced that he had nominated as Auditors of the annual accounts, Lord Redesdale, Sir Fortunatus Dwarris, Thomas Crofton Croker, esq. and Beriah Botfield, esq.

Robert Porrett, esq. F.S.A. exhibited the Head of a Battle-Axe of bronze, found at Heathfield in Sussex, in 1848, within the area of that locality which in 1066 formed the memorable field of Hastings. From the place where it was found, the impression might naturally be expected to arise that it was a relic of that great event; but Mr. Porrett, in a short note which accompanied the exhibition, admitted that the form of this weapon did not exactly correspond with that of the

battle-axes which appear in the hands of several combatants, and even of Harold himself, in the Bayeux Tapestry. The axe in question was of a square form, analogous to the instruments which go by the name of celts; it appears to have been made to fit into a mortice, and to have been secured by a transverse pin riveted at both ends. It has been recently purchased by the Board of Ordnance for the Armoury at the Tower. A drawing of this battle-axe, by Mr. Charles Corner, which accompanied the exhibition, was presented to the Society.

The Rev. J. M. Traherne, F.S.A. exhibited a bronze Spear-head discovered in Coed-mawr, St. Fagan's, Glamorganshire, in August, 1847, in cutting the South Wales Railway. Several bronze celts were found near the same spot.

Sir Henry Ellis communicated, from the Cottonian manuscripts, the Letter which Queen Elizabeth wrote to the Earl of Essex, dated at Nonesuch, 17th Sept. 1599, in consequence of his failure to fulfil his promises to her to carry on the war in Ireland against Tir-Oen. (This letter has been since printed in the Society's Minutes.)

A Letter was read from Hyde Clarke, esq. in comment upon the 15th Chapter of the First, and on a portion of the 9th Chapter of the Fifth Book of Bede's Ecclesiastical History; in illustration of the peopling of England by the Angles, consequent upon the invitation from the Britons to Vortigern and his followers; connecting them with the Varini or Varinghi as a kindred tribe, who subsequently settled in Slavonia. In illustrating the early migrations of the northern hordes, and more particularly as connected with the invasion of this country by Hengist and Horsa, Mr. Clarke endeavours to shew that the History of the English, as a people, is still to be written.

Feb. 22. J. P. Collier, esq. Treasurer, in the chair.

Hugh Welch Diamond, esq. M.D. presented to the Society's Museum an Effigy and a Plate in brass to the Memory of Margaret, wife of Sir John Erneley, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, daughter of Edward Dawtrey, esq. who died the 18th Aug. 1518, said to have been found in the Thames.

William Richard Drake, esq. by permission of Colonel Reid, M.P. exhibited an ancient embossed Shield of middle-age work, of the cinquecento period.

Sir Henry Ellis laid before the Society an impression from the matrix of a Seal, recently picked up in Norfolk, which had been communicated to him by Dawson Turner, esq. of Great Yarmouth. It is of

oval form, the centre filled by the figure of an abbat, beneath a gothic canopy, mitred, bearing a crozier in his left hand, his right hand uplifted in the act of benediction. A small full-length figure represented in a niche below. The inscription round, sI. OFICII. P'OR. LINCOLII. ORDI'S. S'c'I. AVGVST'I. The seal of the Augustin Friars of Lincoln.

A letter was read from George R. Corner, esq. F.S.A. accompanying the description of a Monument placed over the Grave of Eric Menved and Queen Ingeborg of Denmark, in the church at Ringsted, in the Island of Zeeland, translated by his friend Mr. Alfred Hansen, from Professor Werlauff's Memoir in the "Antiquariste Annaler," published at Copenhagen in 1821. Eric VIII. named Eric Menved, and his Queen Ingeborg, both died in 1319. This monument is stated to be the earliest memorial known for a Danish king bearing an inscription: it consists of a mass of stone work two feet high above the floor, and is surmounted by a slab of black marble, on which is a thick brass plate, bearing the engraven images of King Eric Menved and his royal consort, of the natural size, with elaborate accompaniments.

The Secretary then concluded the reading of the Inventories of the Countess of Leicester's Property at Essex House, in 1655, with Notes by J. O. Halliwell, esq. communicated to the Society by the Council of the British Archaeological Association.

March 1. Henry Hallam, esq. V.P.

A Letter from John Bruce, esq. F.S.A. was read, citing examples of the Crown Badge, as represented upon the sepulchral brass lately given to the Society's Museum by Dr. Diamond, (see our May Magazine, p. 520,) and referring particularly to a brass in the church of St. Neot's in Huntingdonshire, as recorded by Gregory King, in his Visitation of that county in 1684, for Thomas Lynde, Yeoman of the Crown. Mr. Bruce shewed the occurrence of the same badge in no less than five other known English brasses, still, however, leaving it in doubt whether the badge in question was specifically that of a Yeoman of the Crown, or generally that of a servant of the Sovereign.

Benjamin Nightingale, esq. exhibited to the Society a drawing of a thin strip of bronze, sixteen inches in length, and one in breadth, which, from its still retaining a spiral form, was presumed to have been twisted round a wooden staff or sceptre. On this bronze a number of rude figures of animals were represented, intermixed with characters or letters, such as are seen upon some of the Anglo-Saxon

sceattas engraved by Ruding. It was found among other antiquities, heretofore exhibited to the Society, on Farley Heath, in Surrey, in the summer of 1848. Mr. Nightingale also exhibited a Bronze Celt found by himself in the same neighbourhood at a later period of the year. Mr. Akerman accompanied this exhibition with a short note, suggesting that the slip of bronze had formed the ornament of the staff of an ecclesiastic, and was probably of the date of the seventh or eighth century; founding this belief on the analogy between some of the figures on the scroll and those on some gold coins found on Bagshot Heath some years since, and described as well as figured in the Numismatic Chronicle.

The Secretary then read a Letter from Thomas Crofton Croker, esq. F.S.A. accompanied by two drawings and the exhibition of two bosses of a brooch, a bronze fibula, two silver buckles, and a ring. Mr. Croker called attention to the frequent discovery of combs in ancient places of interment, as near Pier o' Wall in Orkney in 1839, and at Larne, co. Antrim, in 1841; at the former place were five human skeletons, with fragments of armour, weapons, ornaments (among which two, found near or a little below the head of each, resembled large mussel shells), fibulæ, combs, and miscellaneous articles; at Larne, a human skeleton, accompanied with a spear, sword, fibula, and a comb, as engraved in the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Mr. Croker afterwards described a discovery of ancient remains at Kilmainham, near Dublin, accompanied by some remarks upon them by Mr. Worsaae, of Copenhagen, addressed to the Royal Irish Academy, in which they are considered as of Danish origin--the weapons and ornaments of Norsemen." After what has been stated," Mr. Croker remarks, "it is to be presumed that no one can doubt the correct appropriation to the northern maritime adventurers of that period" (the tenth or eleventh century), or their associates, of the interments described as having been found on the shores of the islands of Scotland and the north coast of Ireland. Let imagination supply the picture of these bold seamen hovering around the coast in their coracles or hide-boats. And is the popular imagination of a comparatively ignorant people, who crossed their rivers in canoes hollowed out of logs of wood. taxed too much when beholding an unknown sea-creature fearlessly moving along a stormy shore, braving its wid waves or triumphantly careering through its breakers, and guiding almost magically, with a slight double-bladed or

rather

disked oar, a frail but secure bark or shell, in believing that the part not submerged was a mirror? especially when the hand unemployed in navigation was occupied, while going through the surf, in the adjustment of the hair. May it not be fairly presumed that the tail-like appearance of the stern of these northern hide-boats resembled that of the present ordinary Norwegian skiff, which must have been the primitive contrivance for steering or guiding the coracle by means of an oar when tide and wind were not in its favour. Thus I think the incongruous combination of a fish's tail and a semi-human form, with a pair of hands occupied by a mirror and comb, can be fairly explained. But why, it may be asked, should these fierce northern pirates be transformed into mermaids? Why should they not be considered as mermen? Their jewelled breasts, or the clasps of their cloaks, I humbly conceive, sufficiently account for this vulgar error." A few subsidiary notices of a couple of brooches found by a peasant in the Island of Inniscattery, and on the irruptions of the Danes into that island in the ninth and tenth centuries, formed the conclusion of Mr. Croker's letter.* (To be continued.)

ARCHEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.

April 13. James Talbot, esq. in the chair.

A communication was made by the Rev. J. Willson of the discovery of some Roman remains at Headington, consisting of a quantity of pottery, sepulchral urns, &c., which he exhibited. From the excavations already commenced, the foundation walls of a small chamber, about 13 feet by 10, have been exposed; and there is every reason to suppose that when the search is prosecuted further many other objects will be brought to light. The land being at present under cultivation, operations cannot be resumed until after the crop has been gathered.

The secretary stated that he had just returned from Colchester, and had inspected the numerous Roman antiquities lately discovered on the property of Mr. Taylor; from whom he had met with such facilities as would, he hoped, enable him to furnish the Institute with fuller details of the sepulchral remains with which this

*It cannot fail to be remarked that Mr. Croker's ingenious transmutation of Norse boatmen, who had come all the way from Denmark in coracles, into Irish mermaids, leaves untouched the fabulous being of still earlier ages, of whom it was said that

Desinit in piscem mulier formosa superne. GENT. MAG. VOL. XXXI.

vicinity abounds. As but a small portion of this Roman burial-ground has been disturbed, it is conjectured that many relics may yet be brought to light: meantime Mr. Taylor has presented the whole of this collection, consisting of more than 150 cinerary urns, with glass vessels, and other objects, to the museum now forming in the Town Hall of Colchester.

Some fragments were exhibited by the Rev. H. Jenner, which had been dug up in the course of some excavations made by him in the inner ballium of the ancient Castle of Clare, in Suffolk.

Notice was sent by Mr. Walbran (local secretary at Ripon) that he was watching the progress of the excavations making by the directions of Lord de Grey at Fountains Abbey. The foundations of the abbat's house could now be distinctly traced, and were quite confirmatory of the opinion which was expressed by the members of the Institute as to its real site during their visit to the abbey in 1846.

Mr. A. Nesbit forwarded some sketches of ancient sepulchral slabs; on one of which was a beautiful floriated cross: and a paper was read from him illustrative of these ancient memorials.

The Rev. J. Coppard sent some drawings of an ornamental cross over the gable of the north aisle of the Church of Plympton St. Mary, Devonshire.

Some richly illuminated psalters and other curious MSS. from the Monastery of Hayles, in Gloucestershire, were exhibited by the Rev. C. Sydenham. The beauty of these manuscripts attracted much

attention.

Mr. Franks exhibited rubbings from the sepulchral brasses of two of the Wynn family, in Gwydir church, which were almost unique as having the engraver's name sculptured thereon; one only similar known instance was adduced by Mr. Hunter, as existing in Darley church.

Mr. Turnbull sent a drawing of a rappoir, preserved at Edinburgh, richly ornamented in relief, with an elegant Raffaelesque design. Mr. Ram exhibited an antique ivory cameo, found suspended in an Etruscan tomb which had been made use of by the Romans; the design represents a head of the younger Bacchus. Dr. Kendrick presented a cast from the ancient seal of the corporation of Liverpool. Mr. Whincopp exhibited a silver armlet, apparently Saxon, with a silver mediæval ring and other curiosities. Mr. Talbot stated that, having shown the celt lately found in Marylebone to Sir H. de la Beche, it was ascertained to contain a certain quantity of tin, thereby proving it to be real bronze, and not merely copper, as had been supposed. 4 M

Mr. Talbot also announced that, the want of better accommodation having been urgently pressed upon the Committee by numerous members, they had decided on taking the spacious apartments in No. 26, Suffolk-street, Pall Mall, which would afford conveniences for the meetings, library, and museum of the Institute.

May 4. The Dean of Westminster, V.P. The Hon. Richard Neville, whose recent researches in Cambridgeshire and Essex have brought to light many antiqui. ties of the British and Roman periods, in the neighbourhood of Audley End, communicated a memoir on his investigations in another county, at a Roman site on Lord Braybrooke's estates, near Billingbear, Berks. The remains of a Roman structure had been first noticed there, at Weycock, in the parish of Waltham, by Camden, and subsequent discoveries are slightly recorded by later antiquaries. The excavations directed by Mr. Neville have laid open the ground plan of the building, which seems to have been an octagonal tower, about twenty yards in diameter. Numerous vestiges of Roman occupation had been found, such as coins, pottery, and bronze objects, several of which were laid before the meeting, with an inedited coin of considerable interest, assigned to the period between the departure of the Romans and the succession of the Saxons. Mr. Neville gave an account also of a curious discovery of numerous interments, discovered near Waltham in the course of construction of the Great Western Railway; with a line of shafts resembling wells, such as have been recently described in the neighbourhood of several Roman sites in England,-as at Ewell, Chesterford, &c.-A discussion ensued in reference to these singular places of deposit; in which the Dean of Westminster, Sir John Boileau, and Mr. Yates took part: mention being made by the latter of the extraordinary cavities near Maestricht, termed in Belgium organ-pipes-which, however, are probably natural; whilst the shafts noticed by Mr. Neville appear, by their contents, to have been artificial, and formed in Roman times.

The Rev. W. Gunner sent an account of a curious sculpture found in the church of Stoke Charity, near Winchester, concealed by masonry-probably at the period of the enactments against all decorations accounted superstitious in the reign of Edward the Sixth. It is a good example of middle-age art, and deserving of preservation.

This communication was accompanied by a report from Mr. Greville Chester regarding Roman antiquities recently found on the site of a Roman villa at North Waltham, Hants, and various vestiges of the same period in that county, which appear to claim careful investigation. Mr. Chester has already formed a collection, comprising numerous antiquities of value.

Mr. Hatfield, of Doncaster, gave a memoir on a sepulchral slab found built up in Thorp Arch Church, Yorkshire,-and of the ancient proprietors of that parish, from Osbern de Arches, in the time of the Conqueror, and the De Bras family, in a later age. This slab appears

to have been the memorial of a child; supposed by Mr. Hatfield to have been of the De Belewe family, possessors of Thorp Arch in the reign of Edward the First.

The curious subject of the tenure at Broughton (Lincolnshire) and the gadwhips was resumed; and some observations on the origin of that remarkable usage were made by Mr. Walford.

Mr. Minty communicated an original relation of the murder of the Duke of Buckingham by Felton, preserved in a letter written immediately after that event by a Mr. John Herne, and addressed to Mr. Smythe of Arminghall, near Norwich. It had been brought to light amongst some family papers in Mr. Minty's possession.

Mr. Disney brought for the inspection of the Society the silver seal of John Milton-which had come into his possession by family descent. This interesting relic exhibits the double-headed eagle assumed by the father of the poet, and placed as a sign over the office where he practised his calling as a scrivener. It has been supposed that this bearing properly belonged to the family of Mitton, of Shropshire, and not to the name of Milton. Hunter gave several observations upon this subject and on the ancestry of the poet; whose grandfather he believed that he had succeeded in tracing as resident at Staunton St. John's, Oxfordshire.

Mr.

Numerous antiquities and drawings were exhibited; especially a collection of Anglo-Roman antiquities, by the Hon. Richard Neville :-also various ancient objects produced by the Dean of Hereford, the Dean of Westminster, Mr. Westwood, the Rev. H. Maclean, Mr. Hunter,

and a few examples of the revived use of engraved memorials of brass, successfully designed in accordance with mediaeval authorities by Mr. Wykeham Archer.