the total receipts, from all sources, have been only 1761.

The numerous avocations of Mr. Wright during the past year have hitherto prevented the completion of his edition of Chaucer, but it is expected that the third and last volume will be ready for delivery to the members during the ensuing year.

The publications during the past year have been,

1. The Autobiography of Mary Countess of Warwick. Edited by T. C. Croker, esq.

2. Festive Songs of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Edited by W. Sandys, esq. F.S.A.

3. Westward for Smelts, written by Kinde Kit of Kingstone, 1620. An early and curious collection of tales, several of which have been employed by our early dramatists in the construction of their plots. Edited by J. O. Halliwell, esq. 4. Popular English Histories. Edited by J. O. Halliwell, esq.

5. Beleeve as you List, a lost Play, by Massinger. Edited from the Original Manuscript, by Thomas Crofton Croker, esq. F.S.A. M.R.I.A.

6. Satirical Songs and Poems on Costume from the thirteenth to the nineteenth century. Edited by F. W. Fairholt, esq. F.S.A.

The places of the three members retiring from the Council were filled with the names of Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, Bart. Richard John Smith, esq. and the Rev. J. Reynell Wreford; and for Auditors were elected John Croomes, esq. W. D. Haggard, esq. F.S.A. and W. Wansey, esq. F.S.A.

MR. LYTE'S LIBRARY.

Messrs. Southgate and Barrett are about to bring to public sale the very large Library collected chiefly on the continent by the Rev. Henry Francis Lyte, author of "The Spirit of the Psalms and other works, and since increased by his son the late J. W. M. Lyte, esq. It is particularly rich in theological literature; also in works on astrology, alchemy, and witchcraft; in romances and old poetry; and it contains many rare articles in English, Irish, and Scotish history. In the sale of this collection the auctioneers are about to return to the old practice of evening sales. The sale will take place on eighteen evenings, from the 4th to the 26th of July inclusive.

EAST-AFRICAN EXPEDITION.

We regret to hear that the exploratory expedition undertaken by Dr. Bialloblotzky in East Africa (of which several notices have from time to time appeared in our pages,) has been relinquished, in consequence of not receiving the support which was anticipated from the political agents resident on the coast. Under these circumstances Dr. Beke (who has superintended the arrangements at home) remarks that it is some consolation to know that the Church Missionaries are actively engaged in exploring the interior of the country, and from their exertions we may expect to see, ere long, the solution of the great geographical problem-the position of the sources of the Nile, which it was hoped that Dr. Bialloblotzky would have had the good fortune to accomplish.

CARTOONS OF RAFFAELE. At a late meeting of the committee of the Royal Irish Art Union, Mr. Blacker announced that a munificent donation had just been made to Dublin, being no less than two cartoons of Raffaele. The subjects are, "St. Peter and St. John Healing the Lame Man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple," and "Elymas, the Sorcerer, Struck Blind." Early in 1847, Mr. Blacker had some correspondence with Mr. Nicolay, of Oxford-square, London, when getting up an exhibition of works of ancient masters for relief of the then general distress. He recently received a letter from Mrs. Nicolay, saying that she was but carrying out the wishes of her late husband in asking him, Mr. Blacker, to take charge of two cartoons of Raffaele, which he was desirous should be

presented for the formation of a permanent gallery of art in Dublin. Mrs. Nicolay, as an Irishwoman, felt peculiar, although mournful pleasure in carrying his wishes into effect. These specimens of the Italian school of art were picked up by Sir Joshua Reynolds during his tour in the Low Countries, in one of the towns where they had been originally sent for the purpose of manufacture into tapestry. At Sir Joshua's death, and at the subsequent sale of his effects, they passed with one intermediate hand into the possession of Mr. Nicolay. It is proposed to assemble an exhibition of old masters in connection with the newly-arrived cartoons, the proceeds to form a reserve fund for a permanent public gallery and studying school.

slave in alabaster and verde antique, stated by him to have come from the baths of Nero; the other, a bust of Minerva in serpentino antico, stated by Mr. Windus to have been found at Athens.

Benjamin Williams, esq. F.S.A. exhibited various Roman Antiquities recently found in a field near Takeley Church, in Essex; consisting of a glass bottle of a faint green colour, about eight inches high, at present the property of Thomas Cocks, esq. of Hatfield Broad Oak; a glass basin of similar material; two pateræ of red ware, one bearing the maker's name of Pontius; an unbaked urn of blue clay; two cups of the same material; and three copper coins of Vespasian. They were found disposed in a wooden box, about two feet long, and one foot deep, which fell to pieces on exposure to the air. It was secured by a brass hasp and fastening, which Mr. Williams forwarded for exhibiton, together with a plan of the disposition of the articles in the box. A bottle, similar in size and material, but square, was found by Lord Maynard whilst searching the Bartlow Hills; and was destroyed about twelve months ago by the fire at his lordship's

seat.

John Adey Repton, esq. F.S.A. exhibited drawings of two pieces of Ancient Tapestry in his possession, one in outline, the other coloured, judged from the costume to be about the date of 1500. The figures have the duckbill shoes, which may be found as early as the reign of Henry VII. and which superseded the poularde of from Edward I. to Henry VI.

The Secretary then read a portion of a paper entitled, Observations on the Trial and Death of William Earl of Gowrie, A.D. 1584, and on their connection with the Gowrie Conspiracy, A.D. 1600, by John Bruce, esq. F.S.A.

March 22. Viscount Mahon, President, in the chair.

The President announced that he had nominated John Payne Collier, esq. to be of the four Vice-Presidents, in the place of Mr. Stapleton.

Thomas Hughes, esq. B.A. of Oriel College, Oxford, and Mr. Charles Read, of Bolt Court, Fleet Street, were elected Fellows.

Thomas Windus, esq. F.S.A. exhibited a small bust, the head black, called Scipio Africanus.

Three short Letters were read, the first from Benjamin Williams, esq. the second from J. L. Stoddart, esq. the third from Jabez Allies, esq. upon the signification and various use of the term "Cold Harbour;" upon the different and dissimilar situations in which the name occurs; and that harbour sometimes means an inn.

Mr. Williams, on looking at the different passages in Layamon where the word herebeza or herberwe occurs, considers Dr. Bosworth's interpretation of its meaning,

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a station where the army rested on its march," to be borne out, although the word was also used for an inn or dwelling: he also remarks that the word caul is described as a dwelling in the voluminous Celtic dictionary published by Frofessor Bullet at Besançon in 1754-60; and caula, as a barrack, cabin, hut, park, stable, &c. Mr. Allies shows that the term "cold" is a very common prefix to names in Worcestershire; and Mr. Stoddart thinks that so derogatory an adjective as cold, in its usual signification, could hardly have been applied to some hundreds of places unlike each other. He therefore suggests that in olden times the derivation may have been holde-herbergh, meaning fidum hospitium. In the English of Chaucer, herberwe implied sometimes an inn, some times a shelter.

A further portion of Mr. Bruce's paper was then read.

March 29. The President in the chair. Thomas Hordern Whitaker, esq. of the Holme, Lancashire, was elected a Fellow of this Society.

Sir Fortunatus Dwarris, as one of the Auditors, reported the accounts of the Society for the year ending Dec. 25, 1848, from which it appeared that the total receipts of the Society (including last year's balance of 3471.) were 17717. 12s. 9d. arising from Subscriptions, 7557. 88.; Admissions and Compositions of New Members, 3441. 68. 8d.; Sale of Books and Prints, 1717. 10s. 5d.; Sale of Duplicate Books, 4l. 15s. 6d. ; Dividends, 1487. 10s. 10d. Expenditure: To Artists and in Publications of the Society, 2631. 5s. 6d. ; Salaries, 3327. 148. 4d.; Taxes, 30l. 1s. 11d.; Miscellaneous expenses, 354l. 38. 6.; Balance in the Treasurer's hands, 8917. 78. 6d.

April 19. Henry Hallam, esq. V.P.

The Rev. William Henry Jones, of Magdalen Hall, Oxford, incumbent of Saint James, Curtain-road, was elected a Fellow of the Society.

The Rev. Christopher Earle, of Hardwick, near Aylesbury, exhibited to the Society a Monile or Necklace of Gold, with three bullæ suspended, said to have been discovered in a tomb in Etruria.

John Yonge Akerman, esq. Sec. by permission of William Selby Lowndes, esq. of Whaddon Hall, exhibited six specimens of the gold British Coins recently discovered on Whaddon Chase, co. Buckingham. They are apparently rude and degenerate imitations of the gold coins of Cunobeline. A portion of them are stamped

on one side only, and none are inscribed. A further account of these coins was promised by Mr. Akerman for a future meeting.

A letter from Charles Roach Smith, esq. F.S.A. was read, accompanied by the exhibition of a series of coloured drawings, by Mr. Penrice, of some of the groups of Roman sepulchral urns and vessels recently discovered on the property of Mr. John Taylor, junior, at West Lodge, near Colchester, and now deposited by him in the museum of local antiquities in that town. These drawings showed the arrangement of the various deposits as discovered, including two cists or tombs constructed of tiles. Only a few coins (in second brass) were found by Mr. Taylor, the latest of which was of Harian. Mr. Roach Smith stated that Mr. Taylor's grounds occupy part of the site of the Roman cemetery, which flanked, on either side, the road from Colonia to Londinium.

A note was communicated by Mr. Akerman, suggesting that the representation given by Bartoli, in his Antiqui Sepolcri, of a tomb having a shaft seventeen yards deep, which was found at the eastern base of the Aventine Mount in 1692, confirmed the opinion suggested by Dr. Diamond in the Archæologia, that the Roman pits found at Ewell, Winchester, and elsewhere, were also sepulchral.

The reading of Mr. Bruce's paper on the Trial and Death of William Earl of Gowrie, A.D. 1584, and their connexion with the subsequent Gowrie conspiracy, A.D. 1600, was then concluded. The writer pointed out that in King James's statement of the event commonly called the Gowrie conspiracy, and also in Johnstone's MS. History, relied upon as an authority by Mr. Tytler, in Henderson's deposition, and in the letters of Logan of Res'airig, it is asserted that revenge for the death of William Earl of Gowrie was one of the motives of the Gowrie conspirators. The object of the present paper was to inquire whether there were any circumstances connected with the death of William Earl of Gowrie which could possibly have kept alive, in the minds of his descendants, a feeling of hatred and a desire of revenge against their sovereign for a period of sixteen years. Mr. Bruce con-idered the political position of the family of Ruthven from the time of the murder of Rizzio, in 1566. down to 1584. He delineated the condition of Scotland first, anterior to the Raid of Ruthven, under the domination of the king's favourites Lennox and Arran, and subsequently under the grievous tyranny of Árran alone. Upon Arran's acquisition of power in 1583 William Earl of Gowrie, GENT. MAG. VOL. XXXII.

although previously pardoned for his share in the Raid of Ruthven by the king personally, made a further submission and obtained another pardon. Being still "put at," and vexed in every possible way by the upstart insolence of Arran, he procured leave to quit the country. He repaired to Dundee in order to embark. Whilst there, he learned that his old companions in the Raid of Ruthven were about to make a fresh attempt to free their country from the domination of Arran, Gowrie secretly communicated with them; he agreed to join the plot, and a day was fixed for a rising. In the meantime Arran took alarm at Gowrie's delay, and sent his brother Colonel William Stewart to Dundee, with one hundred men, to arrest Gowrie. After some hours' resistance Gowrie was captured, and brought to Edinburgh as a prisoner. The capture of Gowrie was the defeat of the plot. His friends assembled at Stirling and obtained possession of the castle, but after a few days were obliged to relinquish their attempt and fly into England. These circumstances were minutely related and illustrated in the present essay, from the unpublished correspondence of the English ambassadors of the time. Gowrie was taken to Stirling for trial. He was urged to confess. He refused. Again and again Arran and some other noblemen of his party waited upon Gowrie, and importuned him to save his life by revealing his knowledge of the plot. After reiterated persuasion, and upon their solemn promise that the king agreed to grant him a pardon if he would make a written statement of what he knew of the late conspiracy, he did so. He was immediately indicted upon the facts which he had himself disclosed, and being found guilty, was executed at eight o'clock in the evening of the same day on which he was tried, 4th May, 1584. Three unpublished accounts of these transactions, derived from MSS. in the British Museum, were communicated by Mr. Bruce. It appeared that Gowrie went to the scaffold believing that he had been entrapped. He thought that the king had really made the alleged promise, and died bequeathing his revenge to God. children were brought up in the same faith, and even after the lapse of so long a period as sixteen years, would not be unlikely, as the writer thought, to be stimulated by a desire to revenge their father's judicial murder. The writer could not, therefore, find anything adverse to the credibility of the Gowrie conspiracy, in the allegation that revenge for the Earl of Gowrie's death was one of the motives of the conspirators.

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