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Chinese characters. The question remains, when and how did they find their way into bogs, rivers, and occasionally into very wild desolate parts of Ireland? The author cannot help us to an answer, but evidently supposes them to be of great antiquity. We do not see any sufficient evidence in his paper to lead to a definite conclusion upon the subject, but we recommend the facts to the consideration of antiquaries and persons acquainted with the Chinese language. The book before us contains representations in lithography of sixtythree of them.

A Descriptive Catalogue of the Antiquities found in the excavations at the new Royal Exchange, preserved in the Museum of the Corporation of London: preceded by an Introduction containing an account of their discovery, with some particulars and suggestions relating to Roman London. By William Tite, Esq. F.R.S., F.S.A. Printed for the use of the Members of the Corporation of London. 800.-Mr. Tite, in the preface to this Catalogue, as well as in other ways, has done his best to remove some of the obloquy which had been attached to the Corporation of London, on the ground of neglecting the antiquities of their venerable city. Whether he has succeeded in his cause or not, every credit must be given him for doing all that lay in his power, and for having, we infer, induced the Corporation to sanction the printing of the Catalogue before us.

With the discoveries made on the site of the Royal Exchange our readers have most probably been familiar through the pages of the "Archæologia," and our own Magazine. The greater portion of the objects brought to light, and which are described in this Catalogue, were discovered in a pit, measuring fifty feet by thirty-four, the existence of which was not for some time suspected.* Mr. Tite agrees with the opinion previously expressed of Mr. Roach Smith,† that this pit was at the extremity of Londinium, or even out of it, and he also refers to coins as contributing almost the only evidence on the question of the date of the buildings erected over

* We understand this pit was found by Mr. Heathcote Russell, clerk of the works, who, from certain observations he had made, had reason to suspect its existence. To his penetration, therefore, may be ascribed the discovery, not only of the pit, but also of its curious contents, which were collected, it should be stated, under his superintendence, although we do not notice his name in this volume.

† Archæologia, XXIX. 267.

this site. With the exception of a single coin of Severus, they range from Vespasian to Marcus Aurelius. A coin of Gratian however, Mr. Tite states, was recovered after having been taken away, and he remarks, that it " probably more accurately indicates the time when the gravel-pit was closed up and built upon, namely, about sixty-five years before the departure of the Romans from Britain." If it were satisfactorily proved that this coin came from the pit itself, and not from its vicinity, this conclusion could not be questioned. But this is one of those particular points in archæological research which demand unquestionable authentication, and which show the necessity of scrupulous personal observation. this single specimen only should have been found is rather against the supposition that the pit remained open during a period of such an extent as that from the time of Severus to the reign of Gratian, especially when so many coins of the earlier emperors were discovered; and the fact of this coin having been recovered, as stated, after having been taken away, invalidates its evidence.

That

It is not at all improbable, as Mr. Tite supposes, that the vicinity of this gravelpit was occupied by shops of various kinds, to which we are indebted for the curious objects brought to light by the excavators; but we must limit the principle of determining the nature of ancient buildings from the remains found upon their sites; and therefore should not as evidence of the character of buildings attach much im. portance to the strigil, sandals, necks of amphoræ, &c. found in this pit at the Exchange. The inscription on the handle of an amphora reading EVALERTHROPH, which, it is suggested, may mean Evalere trophim, "literally meaning that the vase was designed for holding that weak wine, or dregs, called tropis, which was kept in baths for an emetic or a sweat," may also be read, possibly more in concordance with the usual formula, E VALER · TROPH E. Valerius Trophimus. Also much stress cannot be laid on the painted wall which was found upon the pit, because such paintings are found on the sites of almost all Roman houses, and have been met with in hundreds of instances in London.

Mr. Tite is of opinion that the subject of Roman London belongs to imagination rather than to history. He observes, "It is well known that Severus and Constantine, and probably Constantius also, reigned and died at York; and that York likewise contained a temple to Bellona, an

*Constantine died at Nicomedia.

:

edifice erected in the principal cities of the empire only but in London neither great palatial remains, nor the traces of extensive religious structures, nor the ruins of spacious theatres, have been at any time found to exist, and even the time of the earliest walls is almost matter of conjecture." Our limits forbid our adducing evidence, such as is within reach, which we think would show that while some persons may attach too much importance to Roman London, others may, on the other hand (even from imperfect knowledge of actual discoveries), too hastily depreciate its consequence; and we content ourselves for the present with observing that we must be very cautious in judging of the ancient state of a town or city from its modern appearance, especially where, as in London, the restless spirit of trade and commerce has, through long ages, been destroying the remains of the past for the benefit of the present; where almost every inch of ground has ever been occupied, and every old stone sought for and adapted to a new purpose. Who can tell what discoveries were made in the middle ages, when there were no archæological societies or archæologists? At York, besides the temple to Bellona, there were two others (one to Hercules), and their existence would never have been known but for the accidental discovery of the fragments of two inscribed stones a few years since. Similar inscriptions also certify that many towns in Britain, inferior to York, possessed temples and public buildings, some of them of considerable architectural pretension, and it is difficult to believe that Londinium, even were no ancient remains extant, could have been destitute of such edifices.

The Catalogue of the antiquities found on the site of the Royal Exchange, compiled by Mr. R. Thomson, runs through 96 pages. It is drawn up with great care, and is replete with useful descriptions and explanations. It may well serve as a model for catalogues of collections of greater extent and importance, such as are much wanted in many of our public and private museums; ex. gr. under the head of Tablets.

"No. 1. Tabella, or small Tablet, for writing on. ('Cera rasis infusa Tabellis.*) Found in large gravel-pit, 31 feet from surface, April 18th, 1841.

"[A single complete page, measuring 54 inches by 44, having a border or margin of three-eighths of an inch in breadth on every side, the reverse being quite plain, shewing it to have been an outside

* Ovid. Artis Amator. i. 437.

leaf or cover. The creases made by the string, which bound it together as a book or letter, are apparently visible on the edges at the sides: the wood is of a close grain, and smooth within the panel, probably from the plane-like action of the style over the surface, frequently repeated.]"

The information given under the head of Soles and Sandals is particularly useful and curious, combining practical illustration with classical erudition.

The Corporation of London should feel grateful to the authors of this volume, and, although we are not prepared to admit with Mr. Tite " that the citizens of London have never been unmindful of their ancient civic remains," we must acknowledge they have been led to do or to tolerate something very praiseworthy.

John Howard and the Prison-World of Europe. From original and authentic documents. By Hepworth Dixon. Third edition, post 8vo. Lond. 1850.- Our readers will remember that we noticed this work in our Magazines for January and February last, and that, admitting, to the fullest extent that Mr. Dixon could desire, the interest of his subject and the general merit and excellence of his book, we complained, in common with others of his critics, of certain passages, and of a general over-vehemence of censure. We notice the book again for a reason which is somewhat singular. Mr. Dixon, with a good sense which is seldom found amongst authors, has wisely taken the suggestions of his critics in good part, and now comes forward, in this new edition, expressing his gratitude to them, and drawing attention to the fact that he has followed their counsels wherever he could do so consistently with his own views. Mr. Dixon may rely upon it that his book is not only greatly improved, but himself raised in public estimation by such manly

conduct.

A fresh perusal of the book in the present edition has impressed us with a full conviction that we cannot do the community a better service than by heartily recommending it to public notice. The important subject of Prison Discipline, to which Howard's life was sacrificed, is now before us in another shape than that in which it presented itself to him, but the principles which guided his judgment and

*Chrysalus. Nunc tu abi intrò, Pistoclere, ad Bacchidem, atque offer citd. Pistoclerus. Quid? Chrysalus. Stilum, ceram, et tabellas, et linum."-Plaut. Bacchides, iv, 4, 63; edit. Gruter. cam commentar. Taubmanni, 1621.

animated his exertions can never be out of date. Whoever sets them clearly before the world, and by his mode of treating them makes them attract and occupy general attention, does good service to his age and country. This has been accomplished by Mr. Dixon.

We understand from his preface that he is a young writer." We are glad to hear it. A man who can do what he has done at an early period of his career, will not fail, if life and health be spared, to make a name in our literature of the best and worthiest kind.

Glimmerings in the Dark; or, Lights and Shadows of the Olden Time. By F. Somner Merryweather. 8vo. Lond. 1850. -This is a book of antiquarian gleanings, written by a gentleman who is evidently a diligent reader amongst chronicles and histories. It contains gossipping essays upon various subjects connected with the middle ages; as, for example, the influence of monasticism upon society; the modes of travelling and conveyance of news; witchcraft and magic; the rewards of literature; illustrations of literary character; the manufacture of relics; the history of medicine; marriage ceremonies; the per

secution of readers of the Bible; the history of slavery and of the Jews in England; court and convent fools; law and lawyers; vernacular literature and household comforts. Upon all these subjects, persons of information will seldom consult the author's pages in vain, and the public will find his essays both amusing and instructive.

Nineveh: ils Rise and Ruin; as illustrated by ancient Sculptures and modern Discoveries. A course of Lectures. By the Rev. John Blackburn. Lond. sm. 8vo. 1850.-These lectures constitute a commentary upon the passages in Holy Scripture relating to Assyria and Nineveh, founded upon the old commentators, and illustrated and enlarged from the recent discoveries of Botta, Layard, and Rawlinson. Mr. Blackburn has studied the subject with zealous diligence, and writes upon it with judgment. The number of biblical illustrations which he derives from the Nineveh sculptures affords a striking proof of their value. They not only support the scriptural narrative as confirming its historical statements, but illustrate, in a variety of ways, the imagery and symbolism of the writings of the prophets.

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.

The Hon. William Fox Strangways, M.A. has presented to the University galleries a second donation of very valuable paintings by some of the most ancient masters. Mr. Fox Strangways was ori ginally a student of Christ Church, and a contributor to the gallery of that college, by a similar benefaction some years since.

The annual speech in commemoration of Sir Thomas Bodley has been delivered by Mr. Charles Newton, M.A. of Christ Church.

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE.

The Seatonian Prize, for the best English poem on a sacred subject, has been adjudged to the Rev. G. Birch, M.A. of Christ's college. Subject," Nineveh."

The Le Bas Prize, founded out of a fund raised by some students under the late Rev. C. W. Le Bas, of Haileybury college, to provide a lasting memorial of their respect and esteem for him, and given annually for the best English essay on general literature, the subject chosen being in connection with the history, institutions, and probable destiny and pro

spects of our Anglo-Indian empire, has been adjudged to Alexander Howell Jenkins, M.A. of Christ's college.

The prize of 137. left by Mr. Greaves to Clare hall, for the best dissertation on the Character of King William III. has been adjudged to Thomas Miller Dickson, B.A. second master of the Royal Free Grammar School at Marlborough.

MANUSCRIPT CHRONICLE OF JEAN
LE BEL.

The Chronicle of Jean le Bel, mentioned by Froissart at the commencement of his first book as the authority for his early chapters, and which has been long sought after, and supposed to be irretrievably lost, has recently been discovered by M. Polain, Keeper of the Archives at Liège, amongst other MSS. in the Royal Library, or Bibliothèque de Bourgogne, at Brussels. It is entirely Froissart's original for his first eighty chapters, and partially considerably further. This valuable work is on the eve of publication, and will be comprised in an octavo volume, printed in black letter, the impression to be limited to 100 copies.-Literary Gazette.

ANTIQUARIAN RESEARCHES.

SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES.

Nov. 21. The first meeting for the present session was held: the Lord Viscount Mahon, President, in the chair.

The Rev. Thomas Corser, of Stand, Vicar of Norton, co. Northampton, was elected a Fellow of the Society.

Besides a vast number of English and foreign books, received during the recess, there were announced as presents, a Greek Triptich with paintings of the Virgin and Child and the Angels Gabriel and Michael, from Mr. Blaydes; a model, as is supposed, of a chain-shot, from Mr. Fonnereau; and a cast from the Seal of the Provincial Prior of the Friars' Preachers in England, from Mr. T. W. Paynter. The last is oval, of sixteenth century work, exhibiting the Virgin with her Child standing, and bearing this legend, "Sigillum Prior' Provincialis Anglie fratrum predicatorum."

Fred. Ouvry, esq. F.S.A. exhibited fourteen Roman Denarii found recently in a railway cutting in Northamptonshire. Four were of Consular families, the others of Emperors from Julius Cæsar to Domitian; the latter being in excellent preservation, while the others were worn by circulation, leads to the inference that the deposit was made in the reign of the lastmentioned Emperor. It bears the record of the seventh consulship, answering to A.D. 80.

C. Roach Smith, esq. F.S.A. exhibited three cup-shaped fibulæ found near Oxford; and Dr. Roots exhibited a moulded brass celt, or "winged hatchet," found in the Thames at Kingston in July last.

Capt. Smyth, Director, exhibited, by permission of the Rev. Bradford T. Hawkins, a portrait in ivory of Admiral Sir John Hawkins, preserved as a heir-loom in the family.

N. N. Solly, esq. exhibited and presented a drawing of a very singular Peruvian Vase in the shape of a human head. Captain Smyth observed that he discovered at Girgenti a Greek vase precisely similar.

The

J. Y. Akerman, esq. the Resident Secretary, then read an account of an excava tion of a sepulchral Pit in the village of Stone, near Aylesbury, which he had caused to be excavated in June last. pit, twenty-eight feet deep, contained nearly thirty cinerary urns, some of them quite perfect, and containing burnt human bones. The pit was discovered by the workmen engaged in digging the foundations of the County Lunatic Asylum. There were also found in it animal bones,

the skull of an ox (bos taurus), and a bucket. Other urns were found in the field close by, superficially buried, and, like those discovered in the pit, containing burnt bones. The sand-pit on the north side of the road, about a furlong off, appears to have been both a Roman and a Saxon or Frankish burial-place, as interments indicating the burial practices of such races had been repeatedly discovered in this spot. The writer then alluded to the discovery of similar pits at Ewell near Epsom, of which an account was given by Dr. Diamond about three years since (see in June 1847, p. 621), and also in the Isle of Thanet, and expressed his conviction that the pits at Tilbury, in Essex, and in the neighbourhood of Dartford, in Kent, were designed for sepulchral purposes. Of the same character was doubtless (as Mr. Akerman suggested) the wellknown "cave" at Royston, about which Dr. Stukeley and the Rev. T. Parkin had quarreled and written angry pamphlets. A drawing in Bartoli's "Sepolcri Antichi,” showed an example of a similar kind of vault or columbarium, of which these pits appeared to be rude and less expensive forms.-Thomas Wright, esq. differed from the writer he considered the pits rubbish-holes, and some of them cloaca.Mr. Akerman observed that there were certainly pits of the character supposed by Mr. Wright, but they should not be confounded with those of sepulchral origin. He had seen them of all kinds, and could not agree that they were all designed for the same purpose.

ARCHEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.

The first meeting of this society for the session of 1850-51 took place on Nov. 1. Edward Hawkins, esq. F.S.A. Treasurer, in the chair.

Mr. Birch communicated a notice of a singular relic recently brought from Egypt by the President, the Marquess of Northampton, being a stud and part of a plinth, formed of ebony, bearing the names of Amenophis the Third and his daughter. A drawing by Mr. Bonomi was exhibited as illustrating the form of the casket of wood, of which this stud had formed the fastening; the other fragment having been inlaid upon the box. Wherever the name of this King appears on the monuments of Egypt it has been carefully effaced, and on these fragments both his name and that of his daughter were obliterated, probably owing to a religious animosity prevalent after his death. Mr. Birch

pointed out that the plinth supplied evidence that Amenophis associated with himself in the empire a princess, his daughter by the Queen Taia, probably the princess called Amen-si. This fact is new in Egyptian history.

Mr. Winter Jones communicated additional particulars relating to the discovery of a Roman villa of great extent, and of several remarkable tessellated pavements at Pau, in the Pyrenees, where researches had been first commenced, with much spirit, by Mr. Baring Gould, as related at a previous meeting by Mr. James Yates.

Mr. Wynne Ffoulkes gave an account of the examination of a tumulus at Plas Heaton, near Denbigh, in which were found skeletons deposited in a sitting posture, the legs crossed, and remains of animals.

A short report was also given of the excavations at the remarkable group of British tumuli on the estates of the Earl Craven and Mr. Hippesley, in Berkshire, which had lately been examined by the President of Trinity, Mr. Guest, and the Rev. G. Nelson. The locality adjacent to "Alfred's Castle," where various Roman vestiges have lately been found, and immediately below the great line of ancient road along the crest of the Berkshire downs, is of especial interest. Lord Craven, Mr. Hippesley, and Mr. G. Atkins had afforded every facility, and taken a warm interest in these inquiries. The Rev. J. Austen sent a notice of some discoveries of a similar nature in the Isle of Purbeck.

The Rev. J. Hewett, of Shoreham, communicated notices, accompanied by drawings, of various monumental remains at that place, and at Coombes church, Sussex.

The Rev. E. Cutts sent drawings of a very singular sepulchral slab, with an effigy engraved thereon, being the memorial of Sir Brian Stapilton, in the reign of Edw. VI. interred at Burton Joyce, Notts, and of the brasses of Ralph Eyre, 1493, at Hathersage, Derbyshire. The Rev. J. Byron gave an account of another curious example of monumental antiquities,-a cross-legged effigy in Goxhill church, Lincolnshire, supposed to represent one of the Veres, the founder of the church. Some remains of ancient domestic architecture, stated to have been part of a residence of that family, exist in the parish.

Mr. Brackstone sent for exhibition an ancient weapon and a large stone celt, found near the confluence of the Mersey and the Irwell. Mr. Ferrey exhibited a curious sculpture in alabaster, lately found in taking down part of the walls of Upton church, Bucks. Several works of medieval art were contributed by Mr. Webb and GENT. MAG. VOL. XXXIV.

other persons, especially an ivory triptic of the fourteenth century, a covered cup of silver-gilt, enriched with enamels and cameos, and a curious collar of silver, date 1554, composed of medallions decorated with armorial bearings and emblems of archery, and a popinjay suspended to it, probably a prize for skill in shooting, or the insignia of a Flemish society of archers.

ARCHITECTURAL SOCIETIES.

We are pleased to hear of an arrangement made between several provincial architectural societies to form a general publication of their reports and transactions, whereby their more important papers will be circulated among the whole of their subscribing members. The societies of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, St. Alban's, and we believe one or two others, have joined this literary union. We subjoin notices of the recent proceedings of these bodies, so far as they have reached us.

The annual autumnal meeting of the Architectural Society of the Archdeaconry of Northampton was held at Northampton on the 10th of October, the Marquess of Northampton in the chair. The Rev. Henry Greene read the report. It commenced with some remarks on the successful result of a meeting held at Stamford in the summer, in conjunction with the Lincolnshire society: and then announced an intention of meeting the Warwickshire society at Coventry next year, and the invitation given to the Archæological Institute to meet in Northamptonshire on some early occasion. The chief work to which the attention of the society has been directed this year is the restoration of the fine old church of St. Peter's in Northampton (noticed further hereafter). Plans have been submitted to the inspection of the committee by Mr. Law, the architect, for providing increased accommodation in the churches of Roade and Little Harrowden. In both these cases it has been proposed to obtain the desired room, not according to the customary mode, by disfiguring the church with unsightly galleries, but, as of old, by the erection of new aisles. In another church, Wellingborough, where galleries had been intended, more room has been obtained by a new arrangement of the seats. The Church Building Society for this archdeaconry have this year adopted these two rules, that no aid be granted towards the erection of a gallery or galleries in any church, and that grants should be made towards the substitution of open seats for pews, whenever by such change increased accommodation can be obtained for the poor. The removal of a 4 N

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