which the unknown and friendless discoverer had to contend before he could obtain a hearing from the Royal Society, are here given with so much of circumstance and detail, that they unfold to the reader a forgotten page of the history of the last century. It is a matter of pride to the editor of an antiquarian magazine to record the fact that public attention was first drawn in any marked manner or degree to Franklin's discovery, not by the officials of the Royal Society, but by Edmund Cave, the editor and proprietor of the Gentleman's Magazine, who was instrumental in enlisting on Franklin's behalf the good offices of the naturalist Buffon, which ended in Franklin's triumphal admission into the Academy of Sciences at Paris, when the President greeted him with the words Eripuit cælo fulmen. It will scarcely be believed that for years after Franklin had made his great discovery of electric rods as protectors to spires, towers, and lofty buildings, English prejudice refused to sanction the adoption of so useful an instrument; and that it was not until the tower of St. Bride's Church, Fleet Street had been seriously damaged by lightning, about a century ago, that the authorities allowed a safety apparatus to be put up for the preservation of St. Paul's. The work is well illustrated; and Mr. Anderson's tabular list of public buildings struck by lightning during the past three centuries will be of great service to those who are studying or writing on matters connected with Fire Insurance.

The Mysteries of All Nations. By JAMES GRANT. (Simpkin, Marshall & Co., London; W. Paterson, Edinburgh; Reid & Son, Leith, N.B.)

With an abundance, indeed a profusion, of the most interesting material, amounting to an embarras de richesse, before him, or rather in his hands, Mr. Grant has contrived to put together a work which is sadly disappointing to the genuine antiquary. Such questions as to the rise and progress of superstition, the laws against witchcraft and the trials of witches, the chief delusions of ancient and modern times, strange local tales, fables, and customs, mythology, magic, astrology, demonology, signs, omens, and divinations, forming as they do the chief subjects of the pen of Mr. Grant, ought to have been woven, and might easily have been woven by a skilful hand, into a book of real value. But to bring about such an end, system, order, method, comparison, breadth of view, and a genial sympathy with the past in spite of all its shortcomings, these and other cognate qualities would be necessary; and of these we can detect but few signs in Mr. Grant, who, to judge from his remarks about asserted miracles, ancient beliefs, pilgrimages, &c., considers that most of them are a delusion pur et simple. He considers that Shakespeare, Milton, and most of our English poets, including Cowper, Scott, and Longfellow, have sadly contributed to prolong the existence of "superstitions." A work written in such a spirit, though its individual pages are full of most attractive matter, can hardly escape proving a failure in a literary point of view. The book, too, is one which we are bound to condemn strongly on the ground of its having no index to such a mass of facts and names of persons, places, and books; though we are bound, per contra, to

credit him with having prefixed to his volume, and repeating at the head of each chapter, a very long table of its contents.

Diary of a Tour in Sweden, Norway and Russia, in 1827. By the MARCHIONESS OF WESTMINSTER. (Hurst & Blackett, 1880.)

We do not often review books of travel; but an exception must be made for this volume on account of its antiquarian interest : for not only was the "Tour" which it describes made more than fifty years ago, when the old-fashioned difficulties of roads, inns, and vehicles were still in existence, but the work itself gives us some most interesting "glints"-as they say in Norfolk -of persons and places which have long since become historic, and of 'society' as it existed in foreign Courts "when George the Fourth was King." The portions which readers of THE ANTIQUARY will find most interesting are Lady Westminster's descriptions of the Cathedral, the Churches, the Museum, and the Winter Palace at St. Petersburgh, with its pictures and other relics of the past. The following description of an old mansion in Sweden called Skocloster, will serve as a proof of Lady Westminster's power of appreciating the antique :

"The house was formerly a monastery, and stands round a square court, the cloisters, with columns of white marble still remaining. In that part through which you enter there is a large gallery round each story, looking into the court. It is full of curious old family pictures and others of all kinds, and the walls are, besides, painted all over with mottoes in Latin, French, and Italian; the staircases, which are very wide, are also full of pictures. . . . . The rooms are endless as to number. In the first which we entered there is a cabinet full of objects of curiosity and beauty, in the way of cups, boxes of stones, jasper, &c., finely set, nautilus-shells beautifully mounted, amber caskets, cabinets of ebony and ivory, and many other things of that sort. In the room adjoinining there is a strange ceiling in plaster, representing all sorts of creaturesmen, animals, and birds, particularly large fat swans, very coarse and coarsely coloured, but so much en relief as to seem as if they must tumble down on the floor."

We venture to think that these last few observations will remind our readers of the "Emblems" engraved on the ceiling of the Library at Blickling Hall, Norfolk, so carefully and elaborately described in THE ANTIQUARY, vol. iv. p. 248. Lady Westminster continues :

"Every room is full of pictures of the Brahés-the oldest family in Sweden-and all their connexions; Field Marshal Wrangel, who built the house, and whose bed is there; remarkable people of all times and nations, French, Swedish, and German, some very bad, others curious; particularly two very pretty ones of La Duchesse de Bouillon and La Duchesse de la Ferté on horseback, and quantities of the Kings of Denmark and Sweden. ... There are several rooms full of old armour, firelocks, swords, sabres, extremely ancient and curious, some of them having belonged to kings of remarkable people. One rifle had been used by Gustavus Adolphus, in Germany; and there were many other trophies of the Thirty Years' War. Altogether [it is] the finest collection that exists in the

North of Europe: including a great number of ancient saddles, bridles, and bits, and Queen Christina's slippers, and those of Eric XIV. These are arranged in rooms on the third floor, at the top of the house. Several other apartments were occupied by a great quantity of books of all languages, which, if arranged, would make a fine library; other rooms also, on the same floor, and never used, had their bare walls covered with some of the most magnificent tapestry we ever saw, and in great profusion. The subjects were mostly figures in the most vivid colours, with magnificent rich borders, such as would fetch any price in England."

It is clear from these extracts that Lady Westminster, when she travelled abroad in 1827, carried with her the eye of a connoisseur; and that her zeal for the arts is not abated at the present day the handsome volume on our table is a proof.

Detling in Days Gone by. By J. CAVE-BROWNE, Vicar. (London: Simpkin & Co.)

By careful and judicious utilization of information derived from local sources, the Public Records, and the British Museum, the author of this pleasantlywritten little history of Detling has added a valuable contribution towards Kentish county history. These are the works which help along the county historian in his gigantic task, and render his aim attainable. Mr. Cave-Browne's labour of love has, moreover, a most praiseworthy object in view. From the profits of the sale of this work he proposes to restore the lectern of Detling Church, one of the oldest, and perhaps the most ornamental, of our remaining wooden specimens. It dates from the middle of the 14th century, and may be regarded as unique in the richness and delicacy of its tracery. We commend the volume to the notice of our readers, antiquarian and otherwise.

Meetings of Antiquarian Societies.

METROPOLITAN.

SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES.-June 17.-Mr. G. Knight Watson read, in the absence of the author, Mr. R. S. Ferguson, M.A. (local secretary of the Society for Cumberland), a Paper entitled "A résumé or Report on Recent Important Antiquarian Discoveries in the Counties of Cumberland and Westmoreland." In it he gave a detailed account of some excavations near Brough, which had resulted in the discovery of two or three curious cists containing skeletons, with the vessels for food, as usual, by their side, and sundry other cinerary remains, implements, and pottery of a rude type. He also recorded the partial examination of a Roman camp situated on the sea coast near Maryport, in Cumberland, on the property of Mrs. Pocklington-Senhouse, of Netherhall; and intimated that further researches were about to be made on the spot. Here had been found a mutilated inscription on stone mentioning the XXth Roman legion: and also the foundations of a Roman road. Also in a

son.

cist in the neighbourhood had been discovered sundry rude implements of the Bronze period. Many of these had been dug up under the supervision of Mr. RobinMr. E. Peacock also read a short Paper on the antiquities of the parish of Scotton, in Lincolnshire, which once belonged to the Nevilles and the Busseys, who had erected in it a church which had some interesting features, and at present had almost entirely escaped the hands of the restorer. The old stained glass which adorned its windows was full of armorial bearings of the Nevilles and Busseys, and so were the bosses of the ceiling. Thanks were voted to the authors of the above two Papers and to the donors of sundry books to the library of the Society. Among the objects of interest exhibited were three old wooden panels from an old house at Baston, in the parish of Keston, Kent, painted with portraits of Athelstan and other Saxon kings, and executed probably as early as the reign of Edward IV.; a rubbing of a curious Runic inscription which had been found on a stone in Cumberland, and had been submitted to Professor Stephens, of Copenhagen, to be deciphered; also sundry photographs of the articles mentioned in Mr. Ferguson's Paper as having been lately found in Cumberland and Westmoreland; and lastly some coins of the reigns of Constantine and of the later Roman Emperors, forming part of a large hoard which had lately been found accidentally by an artisan on the banks of the river, at Bitton, near Bristol.

June 24.-H. Reeve, Esq., V.P., in the Chair.-The Hon. C. L. Wood and Mr. J. W. Cripps were admitted Fellows. Mr. E. W. Brabrook presented a squeeze of an inscription of an Irish tombstone in the County of Wicklow. It appeared to read OROIT DO ECHTAIN— i.e., "Pray for the soul of Echtan," but the name was somewhat obscure.-Mr. W. J. Thoms presented a patent (being an assignment of the next presentation of the parish church of Hastings, Sussex) under the Great Seal of Queen Katherine Parr, dated 30th of March, 37 Hen. VIII., 1546.-Mr. C. E. Davis communicated a Paper on recent excavations on the site of the Roman Baths at Bath.-At the conclusion of the Paper a resolution was passed expressing a hope that the Mayor and Corporation of Bath might see their way to throw open the large Roman baths as a memorial of one of the most interesting periods in the annals of that city.-During the evening the Ashburnham MS. of the Gospels (see p. 26 ante) was again exhibited to the Fellows and visitors.

ROYAL ARCHEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.-July 1.Lord Talbot de Malahide in the Chair.-Mr. F. C. J. Spurrell read a Paper entitled "Notes on Implements and Chips from the floor of a Palæolithic Flint Workshop," which was illustrated by a number of diagrams and flint implements and chips. Professor Bunnell Lewis next read some "Notes on Antiquities in the Museum of Palermo," which was illustrated by a large number of coins, engravings, and photographs. This was followed by Mr. W. M. Flinders Petrie's Notes on "Plans of Earthworks and Stone Remains of Kent, Wiltshire, and the Land's End," some forty of which were suspended on the walls, the peculiarities of the several earthworks and remains being ably pointed out by Mr. Petrie. Among the other articles exhibited was a drawing of an inscribed altar lately found at Cirencester, by Mr. W. Thompson Watkin.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.-May 25.-Mr, E. B. Tylor, President, in the Chair.-Dr. H. Woodward read extracts from a Paper by Prof. J. Milne "On the Stone Age in Japan." The author described from personal examination many of the archæological remains in Japan. Kitchen middens are abundant, and are ascribed to the Ainos, the ornamentation on the pottery resembling that still used by the Ainos of to-day. The shells and bones found in the middens were enumerated and described. The stone implements found in Japan include axes, arrow-heads, and scrapers. Many of these occur in the middens; the axes are formed generally of a greenish stone, which appears to be a decomposed trachytic porphyry or andesite. The Ainos used stone implements up to a comparatively modern date. Tumuli occur in many parts of Japan, as well as caves, both natural and artificial. Prof. Milne opened one of the latter, and found the interior covered with inscriptions. The Japanese themselves make valuable collections of stone implements, old pottery, &c., the favourite notion among them being that such things were freaks of Nature. Several fragments of crockery, shells, and other remains from kitchen middens were exhibited. -Mr. C. Pfoundes read a Paper "On the Japanese People, and their Origin." Passing over the fabulous period, we find the Japanese commence their era about the same time as that of Rome, B.C. 660; the first emperor, mikado, or ruler established himself in the vicinity of Kiote, not very far from the present treaty ports, Osaka-Kiogo. For centuries history teems with accounts of efforts to civilize the people, and the wild and intractable aborigines were gradually driven northward, until they settled in the North Island, where they still exist, and form the bulk of the present inhabitants. Mr. Pfoundes exhibited a valuable collection of photographs and drawings in illustration of his Paper, together with articles of Japanese manufacture and some fine specimens of tapestry.

June 8.-Major-General A. Pitt-Rivers, V.P., in the Chair.- Mr. F. C. H. Price read a Paper "On Camps on the Malvern Hills." Last September, having obtained permission from Lord Somers to excavate in any part of the camps, he set his labourers to work, first on Hollybush Hill, on the south side of the Malvern range, and afterwards on Midsummer Hill, both of which were encircled by a deep ditch and a rampart, while in a glen between the two on the south side was the site of a British town, about 1,100 feet in length. In the interior of the ancient camp on Hollybush Hill were many hut hollows, some of which he opened, but fruitlessly. On the east face of Midsummer Hill were several lines of such hollows, which, like the rest had been habitations, and no fewer than 214 had been counted. Along the ravine between the two hills were four tanks, still having the ancient dams for holding back the water.

More pro

ductive were the excavations on the Herefordshire Beacon Camp, one of the largest earthworks in the district. It had usually been looked upon as of British origin, and Mr. Price saw no special reason for doubting it. In one hut hollow much coarse black pottery was met with, and there were besides many bones of the ox, pig, horse, sheep, dog, some kind of gallinaceous fowl, and of the deer. A description was given of the huge block of syenite known as the

"Divination Stone." It was mentioned that in 1650 a jewelled gold crown or bracelet was found in a ditch at the base of Herefordshire Beacon. Camden had written of it, and in a MS. said to belong to Jesus College, Oxford, it was stated to have been sold to a Gloucester goldsmith for £37, who sold it to a jeweller in Lombard Street for £250, who sold the stones alone for £1,500. There were many traditions as to coins found there, but their dates were uncertain. Mr. Price thought this large camp, as well as those on Hollybush and Midsummer Hill, was of late Cymric or Celtic orign, that the latter camp was of earlier date than that on the Herefordshire Beacon, and that in all likelihood they were occupied by the RomanoBritish, as many remains of those tribes existed in the district, and the pottery seemed to date from that period.-A Paper was read "On Religious Beliefs and Practices in Melanesia," by the Rev. H. Codring

ton.

ST. PAUL'S ECCLESIOLOGICAL SOCIETY.-June 5. -By the consent of the Dean of Westminster, the members visited the Abbey. The party was divided into sections, which were respectively conducted by Mr. George H. Birch, Mr. J. T. Micklethwaite, and Mr. J. L. Pearson.

June 19.-The members paid a visit to the interesting churches of Stone and Swanscombe, near Dartford, Kent. At Stone they were conducted over the building by the Rev. Canon Murray, the rector, and Mr. Hugh R. Gough, who read a Paper descriptive of its chief features. The fine north-western doorway and the richly-carved arcading in the choir were much admired. The church has been beautifully restored by Mr. Street, and it is a reproduction in miniature of much of the grand style of Westminster Abbey. At Swanscombe the church was shown by the Rev. Mr. Candy, who drew attention to the great variety of styles which it exhibited, from the Saxon down to the Perpendicular. The members afterwards inspected the remains of an early British camp near Swanscombe, and the old church of St. Botolph's, Northfleet, which is almost a cathedral in its plan and proportions. The afternoon was brought to a conclusion by a hasty visit to Springhead, in the course of which the company inspected the Roman Via.

July 3.-An excursion was made to Canterbury. Canon Rawlinson conducted the members over the Cathedral; after which St. Augustine's Missionary College was visited, the company being received by the Rev. Professor Watkins. The members next visited St. Martin's Church, in the outskirts of the city.

SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE FINE ARTS.-June 17-By permission of the Archbishop of Canterbury, this Society held their morning meeting at Lambeth Palace. About 400 of the members and their friends attended and were received in the library. An explanation of the objects of interest was given by Mr. S. W. Kershaw, F.S.A., the librarian. The company then visited the chapel and the picture gallery, and were received by the Primate himself, who gave them an interesting history of the pictures and points of interest in these parts of the palace.

SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY.-July 6.Dr. Samuel Birch, President, in the Chair.-Professor A. H. Sayce, M.A., read a Paper on "The

Hittité Monuments." In referring to a previous Paper communicated to the Society, and printed in the Transactions (vol. v. pp. 22-32), in which it was suggested that the so-called Hamathite inscriptions ought rather to be termed Hittite, as the hieroglyphics in which they were written were of Hittité invention, and that the existence of these inscriptions indicated an early connection between the city of Carchemish and the Hittité people; it was now pointed out by Mr. Sayce that his suggestions had been abundantly proved, and that for the future the monuments in question must be spoken of as Hittité, and not Hamathite. The various inscriptions known were then referred to, and the sculptures noticed by Texier, Hamilton, and Perrot in different parts of Asia Minor were considered. These bear some resemblance to Egyptian art on one side, and still more to Assyrian art on the other, but yet have a very marked and peculiar character of their own. The various Hittité monuments known were described, and the hieroglyphic names of various gods and goddesses from the sculptures at Boghaz Keni, Hamath, Aleppo, Carchemish, &c., considered.—A communication from M. Terrien de Lacouperie, on the Common Origin of the Akkadian and Chinese Writing was read.-The Rev. J. N. Strassmaier communicated the translation of a contract tablet of the 17th year of Nabonidus. This tablet, which is in the collection of the Louvre, is marked M.N.B. 1133, and contains rather an unusual form of contract.- Mr. Richard Cull, F.S.A., read some remarks on the Form and Function of the Infinitive Mood in the Assyrian language.

NEW SHAKSPEARE SOCIETY.-June 11.-F. J. Furnivall, Esq., Director, in the Chair.-The Papers read were "On the Seasons of Shakspeare's Plays," by the Rev. H. N. Ellacombe, M.A.; "On the Utter Failure of Mr. Swinburne's Metrical Argument against Fletcher's Share in Henry VIII., by F. J. Furnivall, M.A.; and "On Suicide in Shakspeare," by the Rev. J. Kirkman.

STATISTICAL SOCIETY.-June 22.- Anniversary meeting. Mr. T. Brassey, M.P., President, in the Chair. From the Report of the council it appeared that in the past year the number of members had risen from 746 to 783. Great progress has been made during the last decade, the number of Fellows having been nearly doubled, while the income and amount invested have been more than doubled in that time.Mr. James Caird was appointed President for the coming year. The council also was appointed.

FREE AND OPEN CHURCH ASSOCIATION.-At the anniversary of this Society, Lord Forbes, V.P., in the Chair. The Report was read and adopted. It contained a list of seventy-five old churches in which the pew system had been abolished, and of new free churches erected during the past year, but the list "is not put forth as a complete record of the progress of the movement, as many churches have, no doubt, been made free in a quiet way without any public notice having appeared of the change.'

CITY CHURCH AND CHURCHYARD PROTECTION SOCIETY.-June 23.-The first annual meeting of this Society was held at the Mansion House, the Earl of Devon, President, in the Chair.—The Report showed that since the formation of this Society no scheme for

the removal of a church had been set on foot, and no church had been destroyed. Having referred to the need for funds to carry on the work of the Society, the Report went on to acknowledge the exertions of Mr. H. Wright in securing so long and influential a list of supporters of the movement. The work of the Society was of no ordinary character in an age which was, above all things, utilitarian; but reverence for art, antiquity, and religion still retained some dominion over the minds and affections of the thoughtful and the cultivated. Mr. Henry Wright read a Paper on "City Churches," written by the late Sir Gilbert Scott. The Hon. Percy Wyndham, M.P., moved : "That this meeting regrets the destruction of so many of the ancient parish churches of the City of London, both on æsthetic and religious grounds, and pledges itself to watch and oppose in the absence of urgent necessity any and every future scheme for the removal of a City church, or the desecration of the resting-place of the dead within the City of London." -At the last Council meeting of the City Church and Churchyard Protection Society, Mr. Edwin Freshfield, F.S.A, presiding, the Hon. Sec., Mr. Henry Wright, stated that the result of the late meeting held at the Mansion House, at which Lord Devon took the Chair, had been the increase of 120 new members, all of whom were then elected. It was resolved, on the motion of Mr. Tomkins, Q.C., "That the best thanks of the Council be accorded to Mr. Wright for his labours for the welfare of the Society." A letter was read from the solicitors of the Metropolitan Railway, Messrs. Baxter, definitely stating that no City church nor churchyard will be interfered with by the railway. Mr. Alderman Fowler, M.P., and Mr. Grantham, Q.C., M.P., have become Vice-Presidents of the Society.

ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY.-June 21.-Sir H. C. Rawlinson, K.C.B., in the Chair.—Mr. R. N. Cust (Hon. Sec.) laid before the Society a revised translation, by Prof. Kern, of Leiden, of the additional edicts of King Asoka at Dhauli and Jaugada on the east coast of India, and gave a general description of the other inscriptions of that monarch which have been met with, not only on rocks, but in caves, and on pillars, especially set up to receive them. Having stated that the date of Asoka's reign was fairly certain, as he is known to have been the grandson of Chandra Gupta (Sandracottus), Mr. Cust mentioned the various localities in the North, West, and East of India where these inscriptions have been copied, and added that, while, in his opinion, both the forms of characters used could be traced back to a Phoenician original, the language of the inscriptions was an early form of the Prakrit into which the Sanskrit had degenerated. He then read Prof. Kern's translation. A discussion ensued, in which Sir Walter Elliot, the discoverer of the Jaugada tablet, and others took part.

FOLK-LORE SOCIETY.-June 23.-Earl Beauchamp, F.S.A., in the Chair.-The Annual Report was read, and the treasurer's statement of accounts for 1879 received. The officers for the ensuing year having been duly elected, and other business transacted, a motion was submitted to the meeting for the appointment of a committee to consider and report to the Council as to the best means of collecting and