May 8. Mr. Wright laid on the table a vase of stone apparently of the time of James I., dug up within the precincts of the priory of Leominster in Herefordshire, and a fragment of a head sculptured in stone (Norman work) dug up at the depth of 12 feet in a field in the neighbourhood of Leominster. These articles are the property of John Evans, esq., F.S.A., of Upper Stamford Street.

Mr. E. B. Price, of Cow-cross Street, West Smithfield, communicated an account of the discovery of vast quantities of human remains during excavations for sewerage at the west end of Newcastle Street, Farringdon Street, within a short distance eastward of an old brick wall which Mr. Price thinks formed part of the barrier of the river Fleet. These remains were found at the depth of about five feet. Another similar deposit was discovered at the depth of six or seven feet about twenty or thirty feet further up the street, near Seacoal Lane. A very ancient wall still exists at the foot of the precipitous descent named Breakneck Stairs, which was a relic in Stowe's day. He alludes to "an old wall of stone inclosing a piece of ground up Seacoal Lane, wherein (by report) sometime stood an Inne of Chancery, which house being greatly decayed and standing remote from other houses of that profession, the company removed," &c. When the excavation had descended to the depth of 14 feet, numerous fragments of Roman pottery, an iron stylus, and two small brass coins of Constantine, were discovered.

Mr. A. Stubbs of Boulogne communicated a drawing from stone capitals of pillars sculptured with the Tudor arms, deposited in the museum of that town. These capitals were found on taking down a house on the Tintilleries in 1807, and Mr. Stubbs conjectures that they belonged to the jubé or rood-loft of the church of St. Nicholas in Calais, taken down to make room for the citadel erected by the French after the recovery of the town from the English; and which jubé, it appears, was by order of Charles IX. transferred in 1561 to Boulogne.

Notes were read from Arthur W. Upcher, esq., on the discovery of a small bronze figure of the crucified Saviour in a field adjoining Beeston Priory, near Cromer; and from Sir Arthur Brooke Faulkner, mentioning the finding of a small brass coin of Victorinus and some tradesmen's tokens of the seventeenth century, in digging the foundations of a house at Broadstairs, near Ramsgate.

Mr. Charles L. Fisher, of Aldenham Park, solicited the kind interference of the Association on behalf of the Prior's House at Wenlock, an interesting monastic house,

almost the only one remaining habitable which has not been altered or modernized. It has since been proposed that some members of the committee should rent the ruins of Wenlock for the purpose of commissioning a gentleman in the neighbourhood to see to their preservation from unnecessary injuries, and at the meeting of the committee of the 10th July, four gentlemen were named for that purpose.

Mr. W. H. Rolfe exhibited a small enamelled and gilt bronze figure, apparently of a mass-priest, found at Hammel, near Eastry in Kent.

May 22. Mr. William Edward Rose presented a spear-head in iron, 23 inches in length, a bronze ornament attached to a portion of a chain, and a small brass coin of Constantine (Rev. SPES REIPVBL), a figure on horseback with the right arm elevated, and holding in the left hand a javelin; before the horse a captive seated; in the exergue, PLN. These objects were discovered in 1838 (the date is deficient in the Report) on the apex of Shooters' Hill, Pangbourn, Berks, in making excavations for the Great Western Railway. At the same time and place were brought to light a variety of urns, coins, and spearheads, together with nearly a hundred skeletons lying in rows in one direction. There was also discovered, Mr. Rose states, a structure resembling the foundations of a lime-kiln, about thirty feet in diameter, and 2 feet deep, composed of flints cemented with mortar of intense hardness; the interior contained a large quantity of charcoal and burnt human bones. brief account of these discoveries appeared in our vol. x. p. 650; and they were also noticed, with a description of the skulls of the skeletons, by Dr. Allnatt, F.S.A., in the Medical Gazette.

A

Richard Sainthill, esq. of Cork, forwarded a coloured drawing of an ancient punt or canoe, with a descriptive letter from J. B. Gumbleton, esq. of Fort William, near Lismore. Mr. Gumbleton writes, "The canoe was found on very high though boggy land, a few feet under the surface, on the lands of Coalowen, the estate of Richard Gumbleton, esq. The river Bride is about a mile, and the Blackwater river about two miles distant, but I do not think the canoe was ever on either. Its length is 16 feet 6 inches; breadth, 4 feet; depth inside, 1 foot 2 inches; depth outside, 2 feet. It is hollowed out from the solid timber with, I should say, the smallest and rudest axes; it seems also to bear marks of having been partly hollowed out by fire; there is no appearance of seats, or places for oars; the timber is oak, and so hard that a hatchet can make but little impression on

it; there are four large holes, two at each end, the use of which I cannot guess. Its weight is I think about three tons."

John Adey Repton, esq. F.S.A. exhibited a coloured drawing of various ornaments from some ancient tapestry in his possession, apparently of the time of Henry VIII.

June 12. Mr. C. R. Smith informed the Committee of the existence of the remains of some Roman buildings in the church-field at Snodland in Kent. About two years since, Mr. Smith having observed Roman tiles in the walls of the church, was induced to examine the neighbouring field with a view to ascertain whether these tiles might have been taken from Roman buildings in the immediate vicinity, as in several instances where Roman tiles compose in part the masonry of church walls, he had discovered indications of ancient habitations in the ad

joining fields. He found the field in which the church of Snodland is situate, strewed in places with the tesseræ of Roman pavements, and fragments of roof and flue tiles, and pottery, and also observed in the bank of the field which overhangs the river Medway other evidences of buildings. During a recent visit to Snodland, Mr. Smith examined the latter more circumspectly, which he was better enabled to do from a part of the bank having foundered from the action of the water. The remains of the walls and flooring of a small room are now distinctly visible in the bank, at about six feet from the surface of the field. The walls, two feet thick, are composed of chalk and rag stone; the pavement, of lime mixed with sand, small stones, and pounded tile. In continuing his search along the bank towards the east, Mr. Smith discovered the remains of other buildings, of one of which, part of a well-built wall of stone, with alternate layers of red and yellow tiles, is to be seen beneath the sedge and underwood with which the bank is covered. Mr. Smith hopes the attention of some of the members of the Association will be directed to these remains, with a view to effect a more complete investigation.

Mr. Smith also exhibited several drawings, already noticed in our report of the Society of Antiquaries, at p. 77.

Mr. Henry Norris of South Petherton communicated the discovery on the 23d May, at Stroudshill, near Montacute, Somersetshire, of between seventy and eighty iron weapons, which at first sight appeared to be sword-blades, but on closer inspection seemed more probably to be very long javelin heads, from the total absence of any thing like a hilt, as well as from the circumstance that each

of them has a socket, or the remains of one, evidently intended for a shaft. Those that are in the most perfect state are about two and a-half feet long, their greatest breadth one inch and three quarters. They were found in a corroded mass, covered over with a flat stone, and the field in which they were discovered is continuous with Hamdon Hill, the site of a British-Roman encampment, where numerous remains in iron and bronze have been found, such as coins, arrowheads, fibulæ, &c.

Mr. G. R. Corner, F.S.A., informed the Committee that Mr. George Woollaston, of Welling, has discovered some fresco paintings on the walls and window. jambs of the church of East Wickham, Kent, of which he is engaged in making tracings, which he offers to lay before the Association at the proposed meeting at Canterbury. They consist of a double row of scriptural subjects in colours, extending originally (it is believed) all round the church. The lower range is within an arcade of pointed trefoil arches, each arch containing a distinct subject. The subjects at present made out are, the three Kings bringing presents to Herod; the flight into Egypt; the meeting of Elizabeth and Mary; the presentation of Jesus in the Temple; and the archangel Michael overcoming Satan. Mr. Corner states the paintings to be exceedingly well drawn, and to be in his opinion as early as the thirteenth century, the probable date of the chancel.

Mr. John Sydenham informed the Committee, that, in consequence of a reservoir being about to be erected by order of Government in Greenwich Park, for the purpose of supplying the Hospital and Dockyard with water, the Saxon barrows, the examination of which by Douglas forms so interesting a feature in his Nenia Britannica, would be nearly all destroyed. The Association had not time to take any effectual steps in consequence of this communication; for, on the 14th of June, in the face of a public meeting of the inhabitants of Greenwich proposed to be holden on the same day, the greater number of the twenty-six barrows were hastily cleared away, under the immediate superintendence of the Woods and Forests Committee, leaving only three or four to point out their former site.

A letter from Mr. E. I. Carlos was read, containing objections to certain alterations said to be contemplated in the interior arrangements of Westminster Abbey. It is understood that these plans are now abandoned.

The Committee of the Association have fixed the second week in September for the general meeting at Canterbury. Cir

culars will be addressed to the members stating the plan and arrangements of the meeting.

THE RUINS OF ATHENS.

The Archæological Society of Athens has, with the aid of the subscriptions of the English committee, terminated the restoration of the Temple of the Wingless Victory, Not only was this an object of primary necessity, but the former work (not having been terminated) was in a course of destruction, as unfortunately demonstrated by the fall of one of the replaced columns. A capital and a drum of a column have been supplied, as well as several small transverse marble beams, which have enabled as many lacunaria to be placed in their proper position as could be found. The architraves have also been placed on the columns, and the whole of the frieze on the east side. The whole is firmly connected together, and the three relievos of Winged Victories, which formed part of a balustrade round the temple, are placed in safety within its walls. Though the traces of the balustrade remain on the north side of the temple, it has been deemed most advisable to preserve them separately. Two pieces of the frieze, probably built into the Turkish bastion below, and the four pieces in the British Museum, are still wanting, but the effect of the temple is perfect as regards its principal front. The bases of all the columns of the Propyleum have been long since cleared from the earth which reached to half their height; and the Pinacotheca now forms a clean and orderly museum for the preservation of inscriptions and small fragments of sculpture. From the Propyleum to the Parthenon, and from the Parthenon to the Erechtheium, the whole of the rubbish has been removed down to the rock, so that the perspective effect of the great temple has been restored; it is, however, to be regretted that the great expense of this labour (for in some places the soil and stones were ten feet high) has prevented the principle being carried out by the removal of the larger fragments of marble which encumber the ground. To save expense, too, and to preserve a vast number of sculptured fragments of different eras, the conservator of antiquities has imbedded them in low walls of plaster, which injures the general effect. When means have been afforded to clear the great space beyond the Parthenon at the eastern end of the Acropolis, these remains may be arranged conveniently, and a proper place chosen for a simple building to be used as an Acropolitan Museum. This would render it possible to pull down the several Ve

netian casemates, &c. which so much destroy the effect of the beautiful buildings in the centre and western part of the Acropolis.

The interior of the Parthenon has been cleared of the Turkish mosque in its centre, which had become dangerous, and, could it now be relieved of the huge fragments of the Christian church (at its east end), the whole area would be displayed in the pristine proportions of its beauty, excepting always the interior of the columns, which (thanks to the builders of mosque and church) have wholly disappeared. The position of the Chryselephantine statue, by Phidias, is, however, clearly ascertained, as well as the site of the colossal Minerva.

What does most honour to the labours of the conservator of antiquities, and the Archæological Society, however, is the rebuilding of the southern wall of the Temple of Minerva Polias, and the repair of the portico of the Caryatides, with the complete clearing of the Erechtheium and of the Cecropeium, with the exception of the northern portico. To this portico, now wholly filled by a modern powder magazine, the attention of the Archæological Society has been drawn, and the English committee have reserved what remains of the very small sum placed at their disposal, until the clearing of this beautiful object can be undertaken. Two enormous fragments of its marble beams remain suspended on the roof of the modern building, their corresponding parts being on the ground below.

Few who see the Acropolis in its present state would be disposed to deny that the clearing the portico of the Erechtheium, and opening the beautiful door from it to the Temple, is evidently the next great work which should be undertaken by the Society; and it is lamentable that so very small a sum as what is necessary should be wanting. A French commission, under the direction of Mons. Le Bas, has been employed in making casts and drawings in the Acropolis for these last eight months; and an arrangementdue to the good understanding of the French and English ministers-has just been made, by which some of these admirably executed works will find their way into the halls of the British Museum. The French artists have just erected scaffolding which will enable them to make a magnificent cast of the north-west angle of the Parthenon, including the upper part of its column, frieze, and entablature, which will give a correct idea of the colossal proportions of the whole building.

Among the many inscriptions of the

Acropolis which have been published in the Ephemeris of the Archæological Society, are three or four of peculiar historic interest- the inscription on the base of the votive statue to Minerva of health, mentioned in the Life of Pericles, by Plutarch and by Pliny; the catalogue of the contributions of different towns to the treasury in the Parthenon and the description, price, and distribution of the work done in erecting the Long Walls.

The following statues and relievos are of sufficient value to merit casts, were the means afforded from the museums of Europe -10 pieces of the frieze of the Parthenon, of the 14 still in the Acropolis; 1 metope-the Winged Victory taking off her sandal, and another called the Bull of Marathon, relievos from the exterior of the Victory Apteros, with part of a third, a beautiful little statue of a faun, about 2 feet high; Ceres, or Diana, ascending a car, in a style resembling that of the Zanthian Marbles; about eight of the small sepulchral and other relievi preserved in the Pinacotheca; several beautiful fragments of small statues, three of those preserved in the Stoa of Adrian; a torso of a Cupid; a bold sepulchral relief of an old man and a youth, 5 feet high; a finely draped statue, of the best era, 6 feet high, found at Andros, head wanting, having been replaced by a Roman bust, as the cutting at the neck shows; small relief, with inscription "Athena," &c. ; the colossal statue of Erechthonius, still in situ, below the Temple of Theseus, 8 feet high, head wanting; colossal statue of Minerva Victrix, remarkable for its exquisite drapery, head wanting, near the Theseium. In the Theseium-the very curious relievo, 6 feet high, of a Warrior with spear, with great remains of colours -a work of Aristeion, of the ancient school of Sycion; a beautiful figure, of the very best era, perfect all but the legs below the knee and the arms, 5 feet high, called the Apollo, from having a serpent on the base; a statue supposed to be Apollo Lycius, 6 feet; a beautiful little Silenus, with the infant Bacchus on his shoulder, 3 feet; a Pan, 3 feet high; a beautiful little Terminus, 14 foot high, with three heads of the Diana Triformis, and one of Hermes; a sepulchral relief, 5 feet by 4, of a youth, dog, and boy; another, of the same size, of female, nurse, child, and friend-both these pieces, in very prominent alto-relievo, are admirable specimens of the common sepulchral style subsequent to the best period of Athenian sculpture. Several other relievos, of small size and minor importance.

No excavations have been made lately out of the Acropolis, neither is there any

COLLEGE OF ST. ELIZABETH,
WINCHESTER.

The long continuance of dry weather has so withered the grass in the meadow on the south-east of Winchester College, as to render the foundations of a building of considerable extent and strength very conspicuous. They consist of flint and chalk, and, from their position being due east, scarcely a doubt can exist of their having formed the chapel attached to the College of St. Elizabeth, of which there are no other remains. The length inside the walls is 120 feet, and the width 36 feet; each wall and buttress, of which there are seven on the north and south, and two at the east and west, can be easily traced, and measure about six feet in thickness. This college was founded in 1301 by John de Pontissara, Bishop of Winchester, and dedicated under the name of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, with funds for a warden, six other priests, three deacons and sub-deacons, besides young clerks or students, one of whom was appointed to wait on each priest. At the dissolution of religious houses the yearly income was valued at 1121. 178. 4d. Thomas Runcorn was at that time warden, and was afterwards appointed one of the first prebendaries of the cathedral upon the expulsion of the monks. The buildings and site were given to Sir Thomas Wriothesley, afterwards Earl of Southampton, who sold them to Dr. John White, then Warden of Winchester Col. lege, for the use of his society, for 3601. subject to the condition, that the church should be turned into a grammar school for 70 students, or else that it should be pulled down before the pentecost of 1547. In consequence the church was destroyed to the foundations. It is said to have been ornamented with three altars, one of St. Elizabeth, a second of St. Stephen and St. Lawrence, and a third of St. Edmund and St. Thomas the Martyr.

A considerable portion of the site of this establishment was added in 1554 to the meadow attached to Winchester College, and the wall inclosing it has every appearance of being erected with stone taken from the destroyed buildings.

HOUSE OF LORDS.

June 16. Lord Wharncliffe moved the first reading of the LEEDS PAROCHIAL DIVISION Bill. Its object is to divide the large and populous parish of Leeds into separate parishes, and it originated with Dr. Hook, the Vicar of Leeds, in order that better spiritual instruction should be afforded to the inhabitants of that town. The Bishop of Ripon said that the measure was entirely in conformity with the ancient usages of the Church. The object of the Bill is, in the first place, to empower the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to constitute the existing churches in Leeds parish churches, and to grant endowments for those churches from the tithes and other emoluments belonging to the vicarage of Leeds, on condition that the nave, or body of each church, should be free to the poor, and a house be found for the minister of each parish.

June 21. A lengthened discussion took place on the BANKRUPTCY AND INSOLVENCY LAWS AMENDMENT Bill and the DEBTOR AND CREDITORS Bill-the former being introduced by Lord Brougham, and the latter by Lord Cottenham; and, the object of both being somewhat similar, they were discussed in conjunction. The Lord Chancellor suggested that both Bills should be referred to a Select Committee to inquire which Bill was preferable, or whether a measure preferable to either might not be compounded from both. Lord Brougham assented to this arrangement; but Lord Cottenham persevered in moving that his Bill be read a third time, to which an amendment was moved that it be sent to a Select Committee. Their Lordships divided, and the third reading of the Bill was negatived by a majority of 28 to 4. The Bill was then referred to a Select Committee, which was in effect getting rid of it for the present Session.

July 5. Lord Campbell moved the third reading of the LAW OF LIBEL Bill, designed to allow the defendant in a trial for libel to establish, if he could, the truth of the charges he made. His Lordship explained that the Bill was intended to complete the measure of last year, and would place the law for public libel on the same footing as that of private libel. The Lord Chancellor did not approve of the Bill, on the ground that it would be no GENT. MAG. VOL. XXII.

improvement in the law as it at present existed, and moved that it be read a third time on that day three months. The House divided; when the third reading was lost by a majority of 33 against 3.

July 9. Chief Justice Tindal read the opinion of the Judges on the claim of Sir Augustus d'Este to the DUKEDOM OF SUSSEX, which entered into a long, elaborate, and comprehensive view of the meaning of the Royal Marriage Act. The Judges were of opinion that the language of the Royal Marriage Act was clear and precise; that there was no ambiguity about it, and that no marriage of any branch of the Royal Family was a valid marriage unless the consent of the Crown was previously obtained; that the consent of the Crown must be given by the Sovereign in Council; that such consent must be inserted at full length in the marriage licence, in the certificate, and also in the registry of such marriage. That was a law made and agreed to by the British legislature, and it was to all intents and purposes binding on all British subjects, whether they resided within the realm or in some other country. The sons and daughters of the Sovereign could not marry without his or her consent; they could not marry in defiance of an existing law; and, consequently, if such a marriage took place, the eldest son was not entitled to his father's lands and estate. these circumstances, the judges were of opinion that the claim of Sir Augustus D'Este to the Dukedom of Sussex ought not to be allowed. The Lord Chancellor, Lord Cottenham, and Lord Campbell fully concurred in the opinion delivered by the Judges. Lord Brougham also concurred, but strongly condemned the Royal Marriage Act, and the Parliament which passed such a measure. He thought compensation ought to be given to the children of the Duke of Sussex, and others injured. The Lord Chancellor then put the question that the opinion of the learned Judges be affirmed, which was agreed to.

Under

July 11. In consequence of its having been stated by the Duke of Wellington on a former evening that the Bill for repealing the intended union of the SEES OF ST. ASAPH AND BANGOR required the previous consent of the Crown, which the Ministry chose to withhold, the Earl of Powis stated 2 C