West Meath, Dublin, Kildare, in fact, the greatest part of Leinster; and Eblana, or Dublin, and MENAPIA, or Waterford, were their principal cities. Walker, p. 316, expressly calls him an Irishman, and he is generally supposed to be " 'Ossian, King of Ships ;" and Ossian, if he ever existed, was no other than Taliesin, the ancient Irish Bard, whose songs and traditions still exist in scattered portions in Ireland, and were embodied, not without the aid of fiction, under Ossian's name. Ireland was the repository of science and literature, when England and other countries were sunk in barbarism; and Joannes Erigena is well known as the intimate friend and companion of Charles the Bald of France, and the preceptor of King Alfred, the reviver of English literature, and reputed founder of Oxford University about 845 A.D.

While I am writing this, a friend presents me with a parcel of coins found near Broadgate (where the Roman Penates were discovered in 1778) by workmen digging for laying on water pipes; four of these are of Constantine; another bears a Romulus and Remus with a She-wolf; another is of the Lower Empire; and the best of them is of Carausius himself, Radiant (PAX.AVG.) Mulier stans cum hasta F. O. Flaminis officialis. C. Catterick, &c. I hurry down to the Western Market. One labourer informs me of a huge mass of terra cotta or Samian pottery just dug up, with figures of Diana, of fauns, of animals of the chace, gladiators, &c.; another jostles me with a large brass coin of Faustina; two or three more hand me a Roman key, coins of Claudius, Vespasian, of Postumus, of Valens; another entreats me to purchase a medal of Nero with the Macellum Aug. on reverse. I retire highly gratified; they also, but from different motives: I that I have secured all the antiquarian treasures; they that have got some modern British coin in exchange, to assist in prolonging their libations at the tavern. After dinner I am beset by others from various quarters, some with Constantines, others with Claudius or Domitian; another brings me a groat of Henry VII. from the Circus; the next has something from the site of the Old Benedictine Mo

a

nastery. No place like Exeter for coins-Chester and York hide their diminished heads-and Castor too!

A prodigious quantity of that beautiful red Roman ware, known by the name of Samian, or perhaps Etruscan pottery (made, probably, in imitation of both) is found here. The

simpulæ and pateræ, used for libations, and buried with the dead in the Busta, are made generally of red earthenware, in imitation of the Samian, prescribed for the Roman sacrifices. (Ad rem divinam quibus est opus Samiis vasis utitur. Plaut.) the latter was not generally glazed, its fine material not requiring glazing.-Archæol. xxv.

In South Street I discovered, two years since, traces of four cohorts of Roman auxiliary troops at Exeter, three of them from their pottery; either, it is probable, made by their own figuli, who like the fabri that excelled in the tessellated pavements, must have followed the armies of that powerful empire, or brought over from their respective countries. Of these I have almost an entire patera, inscribed II VAN, a memorial of the second cohort of the Vangiones of Worms in Germany; other pieces of the Regini of Bavaria, or ancient RHETIA; of the Rutheni of Aquitaine; also the bronze hilt of the sword or dagger (pugiunculus) of the tribune of a corps of German auxiliary troops from the Rhine, being the Frisian Horse. The inscription is, E. MEFITI. T. EQ . FRIS. (Servii Mefiti Tribuni Equitum Frisiorum); a Roman bath, fibula, two curious keys, tessellated pavements, and abundance of black sun-baked and sepulchral urns.

The Samian ware is extremely fine, being ornamented with curious arabesques and subjects from the mythology. Some alluded to the chace; others bore gladiators fighting, fauns dancing, Diana, Orpheus charming the wild beasts with his lyre, Mercury with his purse and cap; there were also figures of tridents, birds, hares, lions, griffins, dolphins, &c. One specimen bore two of the Salii or dancing priests of Mars, first instituted by Numa, performing their antic dance with the ANCYLIA or sacred shields, so called a saliendo. One of these figures bears the fascinum erectum; the other has a brass helmet

had never submitted the work to the Sorbonne.

"The first, or private edition, known to bibliographers as the Edition des Amis,' and the first public edition, were both printed in 1671."

The approbations of the work were neither tardy nor reluctant. Cardinal Bona, in a letter to Cardinal de Buillon, dated Rome, 19 Jan. 1672, speaks of it in the strongest possible terms of approbation, as do Cardinal Chigi, and other Roman theologians, in letters written about the same time, which, with many other approbations, are printed in different editions of the Exposition. A translation into Irish was printed by the Propaganda, a decisive proof of the work being approved at Rome. An English transla

tion, by the Abbey Montaign, appeared in 1672; and another, by the Rev. Johnstone in 1686, which went through three editions in one year. The last of these editions contains an able preface answering objections by Protestants, the materials for which are said to have been supplied by Bossuet himself.

I have an English edition (Paris, 1729), which contains Johnstone's preface and the approbations, but the text differs from Johnstone's, and is probably a reprint of the Abbé Montaign's translation.

Your readers will perceive, that I have confined myself to the bibliographical part of the subject, which has escaped the notice of Lowndes. Yours, &c.

ENAMELS, &C.

1. The head and ferule of an ancient crosier enamelled on copper, with dark blue, light blue, green, red, white, and yellow, with gilding, formerly in the pos session of M. Crochard at Chartres. The head was engraved for Wilemin's work, who has assigned it, with no better evidence than the assertion of its French possessor, to Ragenfroi, Bishop of Chartres, in 941. The costume proves it to be a century and a half later. It is very tasteful in its design, and the work of a friar, as the following inscription evinces: FRATER WILLIELMVS ME FECIT. The height of the head is 8 inches, and the length of the ferule 6 inches. On the bulb, from which the crook is made to spring, are four subjects from the history of David. In the first he is represented playing on the harp, with an attendant, and around it this inscription,+SCRIBE FABER IMA DAVID HEC FVIT VNCGIO PRIMI; in the next is Goliah in a hauberg and chausses without feet coverings, with nasal helmet, long shield, and gonfanon, and David hurling at him a stone from a sling; and round this are the words, + HIC FVNDA FVSVS P'PRIIS MALE VIRIBVS VSVS GOLIAS CECIDIT.

Then the giant is on the ground, and David having hold of the hair of his head with one hand, is about to decapitate him with a sword in the other; the inscription is, DAVID HIC ENSE RECI DIT. David is next represented as a

J. R.

shepherd with his crook, and tearing open the jaws of a savage beast to extricate therefrom a lamb; encircling this is, + VRSE CADIS VERMIDA GVSAP VERO S. INERMI, which it seems impossible to understand. The crook is divided into eight intersecting lines; six of these are filled compartments, each of three subjects, by with birds, the other two human figures, which seem to have no reference to the inscriptions above or below them; thus, between the words SOBRIETAS and LVXVRIA, we have a half naked person holding a naked prisoner by the hair of the head; between LARGITAS and PVARITIA, a figure with a spear and shield; between CONCORDIA and RANCOR, a man holding another by the leg while he trusts a sword into his mouth; again between FIDES and IDOLATRIA, a man dragging along a prisoner by the hair of his head, with his hands bound before him; between PVDICITIA and LIBIDO, a person about to knock out the brains of another with a mace; and between CARITAS and INVIDIA, a man trampling on a fallen enemy. The crook turning twice round, forms a complete volute, which is terminated by the head of a dog.

2. A crosier-head, enamelled blue and gilt on copper, the crook and bulb measuring 7 inches in height. On the upper part of the bulb, which is perforated, are three lizards tastefully formed. crook takes the form of half a serpent, terminating with its head, and along the outside of it are those little projections

The

which may be regarded as the prototypes of crockets; within the curve are Adam and Eve with the tree of knowledge. This was not Mr. Douce's.

3. Another crosier head like the last, enamelled blue and gilt, and scarcely later in date, viz. the commencement of the twelfth century; it wants the bulb, but notwithstanding measures 7 inches. The subject within the crook, is the coronation of the Virgin by Christ; and as the serpent's head had been bruised, the tail is given instead. This has been engraved in the 18th volume of the Archæologia, pl. xxx. It has been added to the Doucean collection.

4. A copper shrine, enamelled blue, green, white, and red, and gilt, 24 inches broad, 6 inches high, and as many long. It was stated in the catalogue of Col. Smith's sale at Christie's in 1812, as having belonged to Croyland Abbey, and of Saxon workmanship, having on it the murder of Abbot Theodore by Oscytil and his Danish followers. On this occasion it was purchased by Joseph Dimsdale, Esq. "who," says Mr. Douce, in a note within, "has very kindly given it to me." Mr. Douce has preserved his very noble, liberal-minded, and gentlemanly letter, which now reposes as a treasure within this reliquary, and which as an act of justice I here transcribe, " My dear Sir, Feeling as I do of how much more value my Saxon shrine will become by being appended to your collection, and illustrated by your researches, I beg to be permitted to request that the loan may be transferred into a gift, there being no person in whose hands I could, with so much satisfaction to myself, place it. That your valuable life may long be preserved, to the great gratification of your friends, and to the calm enjoyments resulting from those elegant and useful pursuits which at once delight and adorn it, is the sincere wish, and I may add humble prayer, of your faithful friend, JOSEPH DIMSDALE. Upton, West Ham, Essex, 26th Dec. 1828, 7 p. m.

To Francis Douce, Esq. &c. &c. Upper Gower Street." So far, however, from this being what Dr. Stukeley supposed was the Shrine formerly belonging to Croyland Abbey, that measured 12 inches long, 10 inches high, and 44 broad. Shrines were of two kinds, those fixed, like Edward the Confessor's in Westminster Abbey, and others in Churches, and those portable, which used to be carried in processions, and were called Feretra, of which the present is an example. The one described by Dr. Stukeley, in the Philosophical Transactions for 1748, No. 490, belonged at that time to Sir

John Cotton, Bart. ; but whether the same as that which Mr. Beckford possessed I am not certain. That shrine, the one in this collection, and that in Hereford Cathedral, are all made of oak, and covered with plates of copper enamelled. The dimensions of the last are 8 inches high, 7 inches long, and 34 inches broad; and the subject upon it imagined to be the murder of Ethelbert, King of the East Angles. Mr. Douce's conjecture, that on all these shrines the murder of Thomas à Becket was intended to be re

presented, is, I think, borne out by the fact, that the costume in all shows they were manufactured just after that event; for, although in the Croyland and Hereford shrines there are only three murderers, and on that in the Doucean Museum but two, yet it was want of space alone that prevented the number of four being delineated. This subject was painted on the wall of Preston Church, Sussex, (see Archæologia, vol. xxIII. pl. 26); and on glass in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford; and in these instances the four knights are exhibited, and in the former John Grimm, who bore Becket's cross, with his right hand cut off. In the Croyland shrine, Grimm and another ecclesiastic are introduced, though there are but three knights; and above, angels are receiving Becket's soul into Heaven, while his interment is going on. In the Hereford specimen, the subjects are the same, with the exception of the two ecclesiastics and the angels conveying the soul to the regions above, which are all omitted; but we have the outstretched hand of the Almighty for that purpose, as in the Sussex painting. In Mr. Douce's reliquary there are only two knights to represent the murderers; but there is the outstretched hand, as in the Hereford shrine. Above is the saint in Heaven with the nimbus, and guarded by two angels. At each end of the shrine is a saint; and the back which opens is semée of crosses. If the murder of Becket be intended, the shrines are all English. It stands on four legs, and has a perforated ridge along the top; inside is painted a red cross patée fitchée at the foot. That at Hereford has a similar one. The heads of all the figures are in high relief.

5. A shrine of brass 6 inches long, 5 inches high, and 24 inches wide. It has six feet, and the top below the ridge is coved. I do not feel myself competent to decide on its date, nor to what country it should be attributed, but it appears to me to be Flemish, and is of very rude workmanship. Antient characters, 14 inches in height, are placed on the top, and the front, as well the other half of

the top and back, and appear to make the words Lou fun, Lou fun adoherud miaho, but I may be quite wrong in this conjecture. In vol. XLIX. of the Gent. Mag. p. 71, there is an outline of a very similar shrine, which the Correspondent says was found containing money in a wooden box about fifteen feet deep, near Holbeach in Lincolnshire. Mr. Douce says of this shrine, "I bought it in 1815 of a Jew, who kept a shop of miscellaneous articles near the Pantheon in Oxford Street."

6. A small box in the form of a shrine of brass gilt, 33 long, 1 wide, and 24 high, which originally stood on four feet; around it is a continuation of arches like windows, with a single mullion each, and a circle above. On each side of the top, which represents a high pitched-roof, with its gables and ridge crocketted, are in six quatrefoils the arms of England dimidiated with those of France, and the label. This fixes the possessor to be Thomas de Brotherton, Earl of Norfolk, son of King Edward the First, and his second wife, Margaret of France. The box has been divided in three parts; but whether to hold holy oil, and therefore for the use of his chapel, or any other purpose, I cannot determine.

7. A small shrine, enamelled silver and blue on copper, with portions gilt, of the latter part of the fifteenth century; both back and front are divided into three compartments each by twisted columns. In the centre is an archbishop, and on both sides the Virgin and child. The dimenions are 4 inches long, 14 wide, and 4 inches high.

8. A copper plate enamelled, 9 inches long, and 44 broad, the colours used being dark blue, light blue, green, white, red, and gilding. The subject engraved on it is Christ on the cross between the two Marys, and above his head the label,

ISS XHS

Over this is the finger of the Almighty's hand pointing towards him, and two angels, one on each side. All heads are raised, and there is a border round the subject.

9. A plate of copper, enamelled blue, green, white, red, and gold, representing the Almighty sitting on the rainbow, with the thumb and two fingers of the righthand held up to designate the Trinity in Unity, the left resting on the Gospels, and the Greek letters alpha and omega placed one on each side of him. Like the last, the date is about the time of Henry the Second. The form of the plate is the Gothic elipse, which Albert Durer

called Vesica piscis, its length being 4 inches and breadth 34 inches. The head of the figure is in relief.

10. A pair of copper enamelled candlesticks, measuring in height 16 inches. As these have been engraved in the 23d volume of the Archæologia, and again in Shaw's Illustrations of Antient Furniture, it is unnecessary to describe their details; they were not part of Mr. Douce's collection. Their date is the commencement of the twelfth century.

11. A circular enamelled pyx, with conical top, for carrying the host into the sick, and therefore surrounded by angels gilt; the colours are sky blue and white. The height is 4 inches, and the diameter 2 inches. This was not Mr. Douce's, and its date hardly so early as that of the candlesticks.

11. Two concave pieces of enamel on copper, a great part gilt, the rest red, white, and blue. On one is the upper portion of an angel holding open a book, and over her head the word RELIGIO; on the book is MEMENTO UT DIEM SABATI CVSTODIAS. The other is similar in all respects except that over the head the word is FIDES; and on the book, NON ABELIS DEOS ALIENOS CORAM ME.

These are of very early date, and were not Mr. Douce's.

12. Two semicircles of copper enamelled green with gilt letters, on which are portions of inscriptions. On one are the words REX REGVM DNE TIBI GLA SIT SINE FINE; on the other TE DECET OMNE DEC SABAOTH DS ARBITREO. These were not Mr. Douce's.

13. Two circular pieces of copper, enamelled dark blue, green, red, white, and gilt, about 3 inches in diameter. On one is a knight cutting off the head of a winged monster with his sword, probably St. George; on the other a female drawing off a mascled hauberk from the body of a knight. In both these specimens the heads are in relief; and their date is about the time of Henry the Second. These were not Mr. Douce's.

14. Four dishes of copper, enamelled blue, green, red, and white, 9 inches in diameter, on which are grotesque combats, subjects from romance, &c. of the time of Edward the First. Two of them are furnished with strainers; but as they have been engraved, coloured, and illustrated by an able paper from Mr. Douce, printed in the 4th volume of the Vetusta Monumenta, plates VIII. and IX.; these highly curious specimens need not be particuarly described.

(To be continued.)