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ANTIQUARIAN RESEARCHES.

SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES.

Feb. 24. Thomas Amyot, esq. VicePres. Lord Hastings was elected a Fellow of the Society.

James Bunstone Bunning, esq. exhibited a model of the Roman remains recently found in Lower Thames-street (described in p. 293).

Sir Fortunatus Dwarris communicated "Observations upon the History of one of the Old Cheshire Families," namely, the Breretons; a portion of which was read.

March 2. Mr. Amyot in the chair.

Mr. C. R. Smith laid before the society a communication from Edward Pretty, esq. of Northampton, "On the station of Magiovintum," mentioned in the Itinerary of Antoninus. The concurrent opinion of our antiquaries appears to have placed this at, or near, Fenny Stratford, which Mr. Pretty considers to be confirmed by the Roman remains found in its vicinity. This communication was accompanied by two or three plans and small sketches; and the coins enumerated as found there consisted of two in large brass of Severus Alexander and Gordianus Pius, and some of Posthumus, Tetricus, Valens, Claudius Gothicus, and Tacitus in small brass.

The Secretary then proceeded to continue the reading of Sir F. Dwarris's observations upon the history of the Brereton family.

March 9. H. Hallam, esq. V. P.

Mr. Windus, of Stamford Hill, exhibited to the Society a terra-cotta tablet, oval, of considerable size, from Rome; it represents Hercules in the gardens of the Hesperides, with a female opposite to him. Mr. Windus assumes the sculpture to be the work of Dioscorides, and the figures to represent Augustus and Livia.

The Secretary then concluded the reading of Sir F. Dwarris's communication.

March 16. Viscount Mahon, Pres. Mr. J. A. Cahusac exhibited a noble of Edward III., found with eleven others in a bronze urn, recently excavated at Breakburn Priory, near Morpeth.

Mr. B. Gibson, of Rome, communicated a short appendix to his memoir on the Xanthian Monument, read through several former meetings. It related to the peristylium of the Temple, and to the opinions formed of its representing the conquest of Lycia by Harpagus; and additional coins were quoted by Mr. Gibson; in support of his former argument. Enlarged drawings of these coins accompanied the paper.

The Secretary then read a memoir by the Rev. Joseph Hunter, entitled "Proofs

of the early use of Gunpowder in England." The author observed, that in the course of the researches which had been instituted into the history of an invention which has extensive influences on society reference had been made to cannon having been used at the battle of Cressy, but the statement had not been supported by our own historians. In a Book of Accompts of money paid out of the King's Chamber, from Dec. 25th, 1344, to the 18th Oct. 1347, were sundry payments to Thomas de Roldeston, the keeper of the King's Privy Wardrobe, for things provided by him for the King's use; and among them -“ Eidem Thomæ super facturam pulveris pro ingeniis, et emendatione diversarum armaturarum, xls." This, Mr. Hunter assumes, when instruments of war are the subject, can scarcely be anything but Gunpowder; especially as the payments were made before the departure, and in contemplation, of the expedition of 1346. Moreover, this was corroborated by another account, for payments made at the same time and for the same service. Mr. Hunter concluded his paper with an account of Edward the Third's movement during this campaign, from an unpublished authority found in the Journal of the King's Kitchen.

March 30. Mr. Amyot in the chair.

A letter was read from the President, Lord Mahon, inclosing one from Mr. Wright, who, with the wish of saving the Society from any divisions and discussions that might arise from a contested election for the vacant place of Secretary, and from an unwillingness to stand in the way of Mr. Akerman, declines being proposed as a candidate.

A communication from the President was read, "On two inscriptions in the choir of the Capuchin convent, at Seville," -"an edifice," Lord Mahon observes,

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so well known to every lover of art who has visited that city, as containing several of the master-pieces of Murillo." The first of these inscriptions is in leonine verse; the second only in rude lines, without any attempt at classic metre, and they are evidently designed to reprove the monks for irregularity in their attendance on divine service.

A letter from Mr. Richard Brooke, of Liverpool was read, "On the antiquity and nature of the office of a notary in England," which points, Mr. Brooke remarks, appear hitherto to have been scarcely much considered-an omission which probably has arisen from the duties of the office in this country being of a description which do not bring the possessor

Nitanes were employed

of tчate so prominently under the notice of the patue as those of some other lean frers. during the period of the Roman empire, as well as during the Middle Ages; and their duty seems to have been the procaring of information and drawing up rough drafts for the fačelaunes, who transcribed and authenticated them. In inter se two employments seem tɔ have been bene, vnd the a, „ellations —notary and teleno-were argued in comparatively moær", times without dis

And 13. The Treasurer in the chare. Mr. Tapper's paper av been coneja jed, a letter was read from Mr. J. Payne ColLer to Mr. Ar tu on twining particulars respecting the faally and afurs of HenryAlgernon s xth Ear, of Nortaumriand, who came to the title in 1527 and died in 153%. These particulars were derived from documents in the poses in of the writer. and trim a letter, w - had never attracted any notice, aming the Sorewshary papers preserved in the library at La beth. I be first of the documen's was the contemporaneous draft of a deed, by which Henry VIII, in the 15th year of his reign, conferred on the Earl of Northam. berland the shrieva ty of that ecsty, with all the emoluments of the othe. Tis was followed by the empy of the original letter from the Eari to Secretary Cromwell, dated Feb. 2, 1337, in which the writer stated that, having no eù Udren by his wife, Mary, daughter of George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, and all the members of his family having shown him great unkind. ness, he had determined to make a wii, bestowing his vast estates on the king. The Earl died in the June following, at Hackney, disinheriting all his relations, and making no provision for his wilow. The third document was a letter from the Earl of Shrewsbury's corresp, aient in London, giving a minute account of an interview between Henry VIII. and the Countess of Northumberland, widow of the late Earl, at which she besought his Majesty to grant her some dowry out of the enormous landed property which her husband had left to the king. The king, leaning upon his stick, treated the Countess with much courtesy, but could not be brought to make any promise in her fayour; and the interview ended with the refe ence of the question to the Council. the king placing the petition of the Countess in the hands of the Bishop of Durcam Tunstall; and Sir Anthony Browse. The result of the suit is not known: but it was probably unfavourable to the Countess, because Henry VIII. told her, among other things, that her father was very rich, and that before he

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Mr. Roach St. th exhibited an unpablished variety of the Pax type of the brass enins of Caraustas, and a scarce smail brass erin of Constantine, reverse, – Sapiente Principis "size of the quinarius, both receatly dug up in Cripplegate churchvand. Mr. Spith also exhibited an exceedingly rare example of a forged penny of St.,ber, frand in the Thames. Tie reverse is sim. ar to that on a rare type of Heary 1. bat the portrait on the Coverse is that of Stephen. It is well known that forgeries of the legal couns were common in the disturbed reign of Stephen, but no specimens of the counterfeit coins the aiseives had before been met with.

Mr. Vaux read an account of a discovery of Roman coins in the parish of Litthe Malvern, Worcestershire, under the f. Lowing curias cirenmstances: As Mr. Mayne and his sons, during the month of August last, were geologizing in a small quarry on the side of the road leading from Little Maivera to Ledbury and Hereford; while turning over some stones, Mr. Mayne came, most unexpectedly, uron a considerable number of second brass Roman coins, which were lying loosely together about a foot under the surface, at the top of the pit. He coljected about 200. The news of the discovery spread rapid.y, and people flocked from all parts to reach the spot, and obtained a few more. On the following day a man, searching more closely, found another collection in a heat red-coloured earthen pot fragments of which were exhibited these coins, 30 in number, he sold shortly after to Mr. Warden, one of the Directors of the East India Company. The whole number amounted, Mr. Vaux calculated, to about 300; of these 200 were examined, which comprised 13 varieties, of which 27 are of Diocletianus; 64 of Maximianus Hercules; 36 of Constantrus Chlorus: 2 of Galerius Maximianus; and I of Maximinus Dama; but which, at the same time, presoniy 13 varieties of legends, the oth on which they na the fieid,

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or in the exergue. The large majority were struck at Treves. Mr. Vaux then laid upon the table a detailed catalogue of the coins, and exhibited species of those in the possession of Mr. Warden, most of which were in fine preservation. The district in which they were found, it appears, is not remarkable for Roman remains.

Dr. L. Loewe read a paper on a Cufic gold coin, in his possession, and considered to be an unique, issued in the reign of Al-Aâmir Beâkhcam Allah, the tenth Caliph of the Fatimite dynasty. After giving a sketch of that dynasty, of the contests of the crusaders, under Baldwin, with the power of this Caliph and his predecessor, and of the characters and achievements of the two principal viziers of AlAâmir, he mentioned some particulars respecting the mint established in this reign at New Cairo, and the custom of making "New Year's Presents" by the Caliph to his Officers of State. The Doctor then proceeded to read the inscriptions of the coin, which he translated in full, with a detailed explanation of the Moslem customs to which they referred. The chief point of curiosity in respect to the coin is, that it was one of the first issued from the mint at New Cairo, and that its date is expressed simply by the word eight, in Cufic characters,-a circumstance which, from researches the Doctor has made, must be taken to signify the year 518 of the Mahommedan era. The weight is 55 grains; it is in a state of perfect preservation, and its designs and executions are remarkably neat. Dr. Loewe received it as a present during his stay at Damascus, from Bakhri Bey, the secretary to Ibrahim Pasha.

J. Y. Akerman, esq. exhibited a large brass coin of the elder Faustina, reverse, "Pietas," a female figure sacrificing. The coin is remarkable for the close resem. blance of the vase held in the left hand of the female to the celebrated enamelled one found in the Bartlow Hills, Essex, being of a globular shape, with square handles. Mr. Akerman considers them to be of a kind devoted to sacrificial purposes.

Mr. Smith communicated a catalogue of 192 large brass Roman coins, found at Chesterford, Essex, drawn up by the Hon. R. C. Neville.

Feb. 24. W. D. Haggard, esq. the Presi dent, read an interesting communication, shewing the difficulties of introducing any changes or improvement in the establishment of the Royal Mint. Mr. Haggard observed, "It has always been considered a matter of great difficulty to introduce into the Royal Mint any improvement either in the construction or striking of the coins, by reason of the constitution of

the establishment allowing the pecuniary advantages of the moneyers to interfere with that object ;" and then quoted several observations from a book, written by Thomas Violet, of London, goldsmith, printed by William Du Gard, A.D. 1653, which gives the "Representation of Peter Blondeau touching several disorders happening of money ill-coined, and the only means to prevent them." According to this representation, "the money was unequal in bigness and unhandsomely done;" some shillings did not weigh full fivepence, while others weighed near eighteenpence, and that among the opposers to this improved method of coining, were the Master of the Mint, the officers, the workmen of the same and their friends, who objected that there would be no encouragement if they had not the choice of the heavy pieces to melt. In page 169, he states the "place of master and worker of the Mint was in former times ever in the possession of some goldsmith, as does appear upon record, and the reason is apparent, for he was to melt the silver down, and to be skilled both in the melting and due making of the money; a Doctor of Physic may as well be the State's smith for the office of the Ordnance, as master worker of the Mint. How can he be said to be master worker that neither understands nor can work or melt any part of the money." Page 171 "From the year 1630 to 1646, there was coined in silver about £900,000 a-year, and Master Wollaston, now Sir John and Alderman, had allowed him for waste of melting 16 grains in every pound weight; and in sixteen years, about thirteen millions of silver was coined, and Sir John hath, in that time, received of the State about £40,000 for his waste in melting silver, which, if the bargain had been made by knowing men, he would have done for 12 grains, and so much the State has lost through the ignorance or knavery of the officers of the Mint."

The Secretary read a letter from C. R. Smith, esq to J. B. Bergne, esq. giving an account of 1,200 small brass Roman Coins, part of a large hoard said to have originally amounted to 12,000, and to have been found near Lyons; they are chiefly of the Constantine family, and minted for the most part at Trêves and Lyons.

March 23. J. B. Bergne, esq. in the chair. A letter was read from Mr. W. B. Dickinson, and addressed to Mr. J. Y. Akerman," On the silver Coin of Siam, called the tekal or tickal." Mr. Dickinson observed, that Tavernier compares them to "hazel nuts flatted semicircularly on four sides, but open like a horse-shoe," and that there are in the form evident

traces of the penannular ring money and form, w... in would seem to have roton to a general crescentic form adopted in metals money in the East. With regard to the globat form of this money. Mr. Dickinsa considered it to be a remnant of the shape of bon money before the invention of colage, and cited several pas-ages from the Old Testament, from when be inferred that the shekel crigiaa ty possessed the same globose form.

ARCH LOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.

April 7. Sir J. P. Bourau, Bart. in the chair. Am ng the objects exàisited were a dagger the bit of which was a fine specialen of Buruese carving: from the fact of the blade having Line spots of gold passing through it, seven of which form the usual Latin cross, the exibitor, Mr. G. J. Freuch, conjectured it might have been a portion of the blade of a European sword.—Mr. Allies extibited an urn found in the extting for the railroad at Droitwich in 1847; it was apparently of Roman fabric, and had been used in early times in the manufacture of salt, from the effects of which it was undergoing rapil decomposition. Mr. Allies also submitted specimens of pottery dre ized up from the bed of the Severn between Worcester and Kempsey. Mr. Manning laid on the table two drawings of mural paintings recently discovered in Watford church, Herts, one of which appeared to be a portion of a St. Christopher. Mr. Talbot exhibited a remarkable bronze jug, of mediæval fabric, discovered at Newbigging, co. Fife; it had been fitted with a lid, now wanting, like a tankard. Draw ings of druidical circles recently found in the Isle of Mull, and of a curious monumental slab in the cathedral of Dunkeld, were contributed, with illustrative remarks, by Mr. Auldjo. Mr. Farrer exhibited a silver bottle the neck of which was formed of a small gourd; this curious object, of the workmanship of the sixteenth century, was intended to be worn at the girdle. Mr. Nightingale sent a painted tryptich of the Florentine school of the early part of the fifteenth century. A deed of the time of Edward the Third, enfranchising a villein and his issue, together with the brass matrix of a seal, probably a sheriff's, of early date, were brought by Mr. Faulkner. Mr. J. G. Nichols exhibited a rubbing of an inscription in Dutch, dated 1439, on a stone wall at the old Inquisition at Antwerp.

A discussion took place on the drawings of druidical remains exhibited by Mr. Auldjo, in which the Chairman, Mr. Disney, Mr. Talbot, and other gentlemen took part. It appeared to be the im9

pression that Stonehenge was originally constructed of dressed stone, and not of rough blocks.

Mr. Hadson Turner read a short paper **On Mellava! Horticulture,”—referring more esquiaily to the varieties of fruit grown in England during the thirteenth century.

The Secretary announced that the volame of the Proceedings of the Institute at York was ready for delivery.

BEDFORDSHIRE ARCHEOLOGICAL AND

ARCHITECTURAL SOCIETY.

March 21. The first general annual meeting of this society was held at the County Library. The room was hung with a splendid collection of rubbings of brasses exhibited by the Rev. W. Airey and Miss Williamson), and architectural drawings and elevations (exhibited by Mrs. Goldicutt, E. W. Smith, esq. and Miss L. Green. A large table in the middle of the room was covered with objects of archæological interest.

Earl de Grey, the Lord Lieutenant of the county, took the chair, and expressed himself as most anxious to render all the ail he could to the society.

The society owes its origin to a casual observation on the occasion of an annual meeting of the Bedfordshire Library on the 26th August last year, on a question for the purchase by subscription of a copy of Dugdale's Monasticon. It occurred to a gentleman then present that a society might be established for the publication of some of the best illustrations of church architecture in this county; and, after some preliminary deliberation, a meeting of gentlemen favourable to such a desigu took place on the 28th Sept. 1847, for the purpose of taking into consideration the propriety of forming a society, having for its objects the collection of archæological and architectural information in this county, &c. Many gentlemen of high position and influence have expressed opinions favourable to an institution of this kind, and among them may be mentioned the Duke of Bedford, the Marquess of Northampton, the Bishop of the diocese, the Archdeacon of Bedford, &c. In order to carry out their intentions, the council considered it advisable to divide the county into districts; and, accordingly, applications were made to several gentlemen and clergy resident in these districts, who were requested to make known the objects of the society, to obtain subscribers, and to collect information on ts of architectural and antiquar *: and it is es nfidently hop ement An

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ford to permit an examination of the ancient records or muniments belonging to the corporation has been met by courteous communication from the mayor; and Mr. Harvey, of Ickwell, and Mr. Dawson, of Clapham, have also very kindly responded to similar applications.

The following papers were read, and thanks given to their authors :-On Architecture, by Mr. G. Russell French; on the Ecclesiastical Architecture of Bedfordshire, by the Rev. W. Airey; on Archæology, by Mr. Inskip; on the Seals of Bedfordshire, by the Rev. H. J. Rose.

The noble chairman said that he had been requested to convey the wishes of the council that, when restorations were contemplated, the suggestions of this or some similar society should be taken. He was happy to state that already in this county great restorations and improvements had been admirably effected, particularly at Cockayne Hatley, Cranfield, Warden, Eyeworth, Ampthill, Steventon; St. Mary, St. Peter, and St. Cuthbert, in Bedford; Aspley, Pavenham, Halcote, Podenton, Harrold, Tingrith, and some others. It was gratifying to learn that extensive works would be carried into effect this year at Felmersham, Stagsden, Clophill, Potton, and upon that beautiful relic of antiquity, the priory church of Dunstable. The Rev. F. Hose, Rector of Dunstable, stated that the architect had in the room with him a complete set of drawings of the contemplated work, and he begged to remark that their object was to restore, not to destroy anything. Mr. G. Somers Clark, the architect, then exhibited the designs alluded to, which were very generally approved of. Among the presents were a lithographic print of the proposed restoration of Dunstable church, and a coloured drawing of the door of the south porch of Turvey church, richly ornamented with a flowing scroll and foliated pattern of iron-work, drawn and measured by Edward W. Smith, esq.; also a small collection of coins found in Cranfield church during its restoration.

NORFOLK AND NORWICH
ARCHEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

The quarterly meeting of this Society was held on Thursday March 30, Archdeacon Collyer in the chair.

A donation of 501. from Mr. Hudson Gurney was announced.

The Secretary read a continuation of a paper on the shields of the roof of St. Nicholas Church, Yarmouth, by T. W. King, Rouge-Dragon pursuivant.

The Rev. James Bulwer made some observations respecting the paintings on the screens at Gately and Caston Churches, GENT. MAG. VOL. XXIX.

exhibited at a former meeting, and particularly with regard to the representation of a figure with a boot, out of which an imp was seen issuing. Other papers read were: (1.) by Mr. Blakely, on two magistrates' posts, taken from a house on Elmhill, Norwich; and (2.) by Dr. Copeman, on ancient medical worthies connected with the town and county.

SYRO-EGYPTIAN SOCIETY.

March 14. Dr. Lee in the chair. Mr. Samuel Sharpe explained the plan on which he had constructed his Map of Ancient Egypt. As to the physical part, the valley of the Nile was taken from the French survey in the Description de l'Egypte, the peninsula of Sinai from Laborde's Travels, and Ethiopia from Cail

liaud's Travels. Some of the ancient towns were fixed by the help of the ruins now remaining, and the others from the Itinerary of Antoninus. The roads were laid down from the Itinerary. The nomes, or counties, were from Ptolemy's Geography. The length of the stadium made use of was from Eratosthenes, who measured a degree between Alexandria and Syene. The Lake of Moris was from Linant's Memoire, in which that engineer has so satisfactorily proved that Herodotus well understood what he was writing about when he described that lake, and the fishery at its mouth. The route by which Moses led the Israelites was fixed by the identification of the towns mentioned in Exodus with those in the Itinerary. Mr. Bonomi exhibited the same map, which he has just published on a small scale. Miss Fanny Corbaux exhibited a section illustrative of the gradual and regular accumulation of alluvium in the bed of the Nile from the Nilometer of Rhoda Island to the mouth of the river.

Mr. John Landseer read a paper, in correction of what he held to be the erroneous explanations that have been published and inaccurate representations that have been drawn of the colossal sphynx of Gizeh, and which he argued was an androsphynx, the beard having been broken off, and illustrative, as we understood, of the connexion of the annual inundation of the Nile with the astral position of certain stars in Aquarius and Leo, in primeval Egyptian times; which position was illustrated by means of a celestial globe with a moveable pole. Mr. Bonomi appeared rather to hold by that opinion which considered the sphynx as an emblem of regal power. Mr. Wilson, of Chelsea, preferred the astral explanation given by Mr. Landseer.

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