"Mulier acu crinali capite depromta." Apuleius. 11. Three different kinds of tweezers of bronze. 12. Twenty fibulæ, of various shapes, in bronze. 13. A bronze figure of a terminus. 14. Four different kinds of bronze buckles. 15. Four bronze buttons. 16. Eight clasps in the form of bulls' heads of bronze. 17. Seven rings, bronze. 18. Six centre parts of the frænum lupatum of bronze. 19. The bottom of a circular bronze box. 20. A pair of bronze castanets. 21. A hook for hanging, with a point for trimming lamps of bronze. 22. A strigil used in the hot baths, of iron. 23. A leaden plummet. 24. Six various weights with chains, some of them for steelyards, or as the Romans called them, Statera. 25. Twenty-four different weights for scales. 26. Nine bronze bells, five tongues, and one crank for ditto. 27. Seventeen bronze keys. 28. Twelve ditto on a ring. 29. Five double spiral fibulæ of different sizes. 30. One bronze pile of an arrow of immense size, for a ballista. 31. One flat circular bronze waiter. 32. Two bronze armillæ or bracelets for the arm. 33. Eight circular impressions, some like coins, and others with the letters A, D, or G, with numbers. Two of the former of ivory, the other six of baked clay. On ivory tesseræ, see Gori Diptycha II. 104. 34. Seven bone, glass, and metallic representations of vertebræ. 35. Several dice of terra cotta, "Per omnes dies forumque aleatorium calefecimus." Suetonius, c. 71, August. 36. Various glass lachrymatories. 37. Several specimens of Roman glass. 38. A clever bronze figure of a naked man. 39. A curious bronze representation of Apollo, in a figure with the sun's rays emanating from his head, the body enve PERSIAN ANTIQUITIES AND CURIOSITIES. 1. A portion of the black stone of which Persepolis is built, with some of the nail-head characters thereon. Not Mr. Douce's, 2. A magnificently splendid chess and backgammon table, covered with inlaid work of ebony, ivory, metal, &c. in a variety of elegant and minute patterns. INDIAN ANTIQUITIES AND CURIOSITIES. 1. A cup of ivory, and when turned down, exhibiting a serpent swallowing up a man with a conch shell, while another is aiming at it a javelin, behind whom is an archer with his bow and quiver. On a throne sits a person of importance, whose hands are supported by his two attendants, one of whom holds a staff with a crescent on its top. These figures are in bold relief, and their costume very curious. 2. A glass case containing forty-three varieties of the gods and goddesses which compose the Hindoo pantheon, in metal, ivory, porcelain, stone, and bronze; extremely fine specimens. 3. A small ornamented mortar of brass, and a spoon of ditto with a deity at its handle. 4. A Rajah's purse of silver and gold threads, ornamented with peacocks, presented by Miss Emma Roberts. 5. A beautifully wrought letter bag with two letters elegantly written and the seal, with silk to tie round them. This was not Mr. Douce's. €. A hook and ring of ornamented silver. 7. A bracelet for the arm of a priest. 8. Three resemblances of Hindoo dei ties set in silver, and intended as parts of a girdle. 9. A votive hand made of a valuable stone, inlaid with rubies, and emeralds, and lines of gold. 10. A ring of the same character for shooting with the bow. 11. A coloured drawing framed and glazed, representing the procession of Juggernaut. 12. A ditto ditto, with the procession of a sultan's wives. 13. A ditto ditto, of the inside of a harem. 14. A ditto ditto, of the inside of a council chamber. CHINESE ANTIQUITIES AND CURIOSITIES. 1. A very large handsome box of coral most elaborately worked without and japanned within. 2. Six wooden platters, painted and gilt. 3. A glass case containing fifteen pieces of Chinese ink of different sizes and highly ornamented, several painting brushes, a box of counters, two different sized count. ing tables, three pair of scales with weights in their cases, three specimens of Malay writing on dried leaves, the steel ornamented style for this purpose, a pair of Chinese shoes, two mariner's compasses, a Chinese organ, a purse and girdle, three smelling bottles, three puzzle locks, three clasps, three pairs of chopsticks with their knives, &c. seven Chinese josses, very cleverly formed, in box-wood, porcelain and steatite rings of jade, a pair of well sculptured drinking cups of bamboo, lined with silver gilt, presented by T. G. Fonnereau, esq. a roll of painting, a fan beautifully painted, and a needle case. 4. A large gong, presented by T. Pettigrew, jun. esq. 5. Chinese visiting cards of Sir George Staunton. 6. A painting of an officer in armour on his knees before a Mandarin, attended by bow-bearer, &c. a very astonishing specimen of Chinese art, framed and glazed. 7. Its companion, representing a card party. 8. Two Chinese paintings of females on looking glass. 9. A Janus-like divinity, with a Cufic inscription. A few shells. A few fossils. A few minerals. Such is the Doucean Museum; or rather such is a Catalogue of the many valuable, instructive, and historic curiosities of which it is composed; for, although they may be enumerated, actual inspection alone can give a true idea of their beauty and rarity. The reader may hence, I trust, be able to determine whether I have chosen the better alternative, and to decide in his own mind that this collection should have remained insulated, or become the foundation of a larger Museum. SAM. R. MEYRICK, K.H. MENDHAM PRIORY, SUFFOLK. MENDHAM-(i. e. Meaden-ham, been granted by King Stephen, and the village of meadows,)—is seated upon the course of the river Waveney, between the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. The parish church (which is mentioned in the will of Theodred, Bishop of Elmham, in the year 950) is situated in the latter county; but part of the parish extends into the former. The Priory was from its foundation, to the general dissolution, a cell to the larger house of Castle Acre in Norfolk, consisting of monks of the Cluniac order. This offset owed its plantation to William de Huntingfield, to whom Mendham had GENT. MAG. VOL. VI. who died in 1155. Two charters of the founder are extant, and are printed in the Monasticon. By the first he gave to the house of Castle Acre "the island of Saint Mary of Mendham," with its appurtenances; and in the second, by which he enlarged the endowment, he described the recipients of his bounty as "the monks of Acre dwelling at the island of Bruniggeshurst." He made the first donation with a special agreement, that at once as many brothers as should be necessary to rule the place should be settled in 4 H the island; and afterwards, as the place should be increased and improved, the number of monks should be augmented, until a convent of monks might be placed there to hold the order according to rule, which should then be done as soon as possible. It was also stipulated that the same subjection which the Church of Acre owed to the church of St. Pancras [at Lewes], or the latter to the church at Cluni, the same the above said island should perform to the church of Acre, and should pay in acknowledgment thereof half a mark of silver yearly. With respect to the gifts conferred by the second charter, it was agreed between the founder and the monks that they should not be spent in other uses but that of building a church of stone. We have here an unusual documentary testimony to the architectural works at this house at so early a period as the reign of King Stephen. By a composition between Roger de Huntingfield, son of the founder, and Hugh prior of Castle Acre, it was arranged that four monks at least should serve God for ever at Mendham, of whom four should be sent from Castle Acre. The value of the estates of this priory, at the taxation of Pope Nicholas IV. in 1291, was (as collected by Mr. Taylor in his Index Monasticus of the Diocese of Norwich), 4l. 12s. 2d. in six parishes in Norfolk, and 71. 3s. 7žd. in eight parishes in Suffolk, in all 11. 15s. 91d. At the dissolution it was valued as part of the possessions of Castle Acre.* In 1539 the dissolved priory of Mendham was granted to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and by him it was conveyed in 1555 to Richard (afterwards Sir Richard) Freston, his Treasurer, and Anna his wife, from whom it descended, by inheritance, to the Rev. Anthony Freston and George Rant, esq. the owners in Norfolk and Suffolk respectively at the time of Mr. Taylor's publication (in 1821). The family of Rant resided at the priory when Blomefield wrote. Latterly, it was a farmhouse but in 1815 the house was pulled down. Mr. Taylor says, that "much of this ruin has been recently removed to another site." The drawings from which the accompanying engravings have been taken, were made shortly before the removal of the buildings: they represent, 1. a plan of the Priory; 2. some interesting architectural portions of the original buildings; and 3. some curious remains of the paintings with which the house was ornamented immediately after its conversion to a secular mansion. The plan shows the relative positions of the Church, Chapter House, antient Refectory, and the Tudor mansion formed out of the monastic buildings. The church was latterly reduced to the nave and south transept, and converted to the purposes of a barn and malthouse. Its architecture did not appear to be of an earlier style than about the end of the reign of Henry III. or the beginning of that of Edward I. All that appeared to remain of the original buildings were the Chapterhouse and the small semi-circular doorway into the Refectory at a. in the Plan. The Refectory was lighted by eight large windows. The Chapter House (incorrectly. termed by Blomefield the Chapel) was a fine specimen of the later style of Norman architecture, which prevailed in the reign of King Stephen. It was about 18 feet wide by 22 feet long : divided by columns into ten recesses on each side, and eight at the east end. The capitals and arch-mouldings are more elegant than those of the earlier Norman style, and much resemble those which afterwards pre * An error committed by Blomefield, has been perpetuated by his followers, including Taylor's Index Monasticus, and the new edition of the Monasticon,-that this priory was one of those annexed to the Abbey of Bustleham or Bisham in Berk shire, when restored in 1537. It is the small Cistercian priory of Medmenham in Buckinghamshire, to which this incident belongs. †The editors of the New Monasticon, v. 57, quoting Blomefield (1806, v. 376), say, "When Blomefield wrote, the site belonged to Mrs. Frances Bacon, of Earlham, widow;" yet at p. 384 it is stated that William Rant, esq. then lived at Mendham Priory. |