henge-Ceremonial Hewn stones; rectangular; erect with tenon, transverse with mortise.

Here is apparently an example of the respect paid to stone structures and their site; two ancient concentric circles being inclosed within the more modern.

TUMULAR.

I. SINGLE CHAMBER· - With lateral opening and walls of columnar and short superimposed blocks. As the Upper "Creux ès Fées," Guernsey.

II. CHAMBERS-As above, each having a lateral opening into one common passage, or "allée." Chambers placed crosswise (Structure at New Grange, Ireland), opposite (Wellow Cave, near Stoney Littleton, Somersetshire), saltirewise (Cairn on Airswood Moss, Dumfriesshire), or circularly. This last very rare (Druidical Temple, Town Heights, Jersey; now at Henley-upon-Thames).

for it is not improbable that the heroic deeds of the valiant may have been recited or sung on these their graves, and the custom continued long after the individuals had become lost to memory. The gradual introduction and use of metallic instruments is shown by the hewn condition of the stones, and the essential differences between stones hewn with stones alone, and those minuter and more delicate en

MICROLITHIC.

NATURAL ROCK.-Ceremonial. CAIRN-Large loose masses, as found in most countries. Cheesewring. La Rocque Balan, Guernsey. Buckstone, near Monmouth, &c.

wall.

ROCKING STONE-Logan Stone, CornOne in the parish of Kirkmichael, Perthshire, &c.

NEEDLE ROCK-La Chaise aux Prêtres, Guernsey.

From this Chart it will be seen that the type of Megaliths in England is the Dolmen, or chamber with erect props. That the type of those in Britany is the Cist, or chamber formed of laterally recumbent blocks. The true form of a Cromlech, or chamber of long triangular area with the only entrance at the apex, is seen in the magnificent examples of Gavr' Innis, in the Morbihan, those on the coast of Normandy, and in the Channel Islands.

The main object of Dr. Lukis's remarks was to exhibit a progressive change of architecture in the Celtic remains of the Channel Islands.

The Celtic sepulchres have usually a fixed position with reference to the cardinal points. The cromlechs in Guernsey have their long diameters invariably east and west, and the capstones consequently in an opposite direction. The cists, on the contrary, have their capstones east and west. The peristaliths also have universally an entrance at the east. That they are sepulchral there cannot be a doubt, and that they have been used for this purpose by single families and by clans. To these structures the term Bardic Circle has been applied, possibly with justice;

to this newer portion. Sometimes, but rarely, they communicate with the larger lengthened chamber. These remarkable additions are observable in the instructive cromlech "Dehus" in Guernsey. These additional cists were formed within the chamber itself. In Jersey a recently-discovered cromlech presents five of these inclosed cists. After this period the peristalith was abandoned, and the successive dolmens were continued to a very great length, as in the very perfect example of Gavr' Innis, Morbihan; but even here the succession may be distinctly traced by the transverse-lying blocks. The original structure was a cist covered with one stone, with a floor of the same, and only between seven and eight feet square. The tumulus over this was high and conical; and as the additions were made so did the tumulus follow them, but not raised to the same height as the first. The inner surfaces of the stones of the sides, the floor, the divisional transverse blocks, and the smaller stones which are wedged between the props, are engraved with concentric and herringbone patterns resembling the tattooing of the New Zealander. The stone celt is frequently repeated, sometimes surrounded with a sort of glory or ring. But of all the stones, the most remarkable is on the western side, which has a deep depression divided in front by two equi-distant pillars, convex and protruding from the stone, leading to the belief that the whole of the surface was purposely depressed. The same is observed in the cromlech called the Dol-ar-Marchant, the design here being in relievo. The stones in some instances appear to have received their engraving

before the construction of the cromlech, for the scored work is continued along the surface in contact with the next, or with the cap-stone. Patterns closely resembling these are found in other cromlechs, and a rubbing taken from the top of a prop in a cromlech at Dyffryn, between Barmouth and Harlech, Wales, shows a design precisely similar. The interior of the more recent tumular chamber at New Grange, Ireland, is somewhat analogous.

The modes of interment were, by placing the bones in little detached heaps, and surrounding these with circles of smooth flat pebbles. These circles were three or four feet in diameter, and the accompanying urns varied in capacity, in their forms, and the patterns or devices upon their surfaces. They were not found to contain the remains at any time, excepting such as may have accidentally fallen into them; nor were they always set upright. The largest of the urns might have held four or five gallons, and the smallest only as many fluid ounces. The bones were both burnt and unburnt. Several cromlechs had no traces of burnt bones within them. They lay upon a rude pavement of fragments of granite, and in the large cromlech at L'Ancresse had a second pavement over them, on which lay similar deposits. The bones and urns were in many instances secreted between and behind the props, thrust deeply into the bank of earth which was raised against the outside of the structure.

The care with which these Celtic sepulchres were preserved, so as to receive periodical interments, is seen in a circumstance connected with the interesting cromlech "Dehus." The second capstone in size and importance was observed by the builders to have a flaw passing obliquely through its northern extremity, which rendered it unsafe, as, in the event of a separation occurring between the opposing surfaces in the flaw, it must of necessity fall into the vault beneath. To avoid such an accident a prop was accurately placed within the vault beneath the larger portion of the slab, and which still supports it. In the course of time the smaller piece became detached, and fell upon the contents beneath, crushing several urns, &c.

Dr. Lukis, in conclusion, made some remarks on the personal ornaments found in the ancient sepulchres of the Channel Islands, and he also presented a classified list of Celtic stone implements which are not personal ornaments.

These con

sist of mullers, or rounded grindstones; long stones, of various shapes; grindingtroughs, weights, hammer-heads, single and double; adze-edges or points, hatchetheads, single and double; compound ham

mers and hatchets, celts, knife, saw, and spear points or heads, arrow points or heads, and flint flakes. A jet bracelet of a highly decomposable alloy of copper was discovered in one of the cromlechs, in which were also a vast quantity of limpetshells, and the bones of various fishes which had evidently formed the food of the primitive inhabitants. At the close of the lecture Mr. Akerman observed that the testimony of Dr. Lukis, as to the discovery of the bones of fishes among the early Celtic remains, was of especial interest to the ethnologist, since Herodian has stated of our rude forefathers that, although the sea abounded with fish, it was never used by them as food. The statement of Dr. Lukis appeared to throw considerable doubt on the assertion of Herodian, but, on the other hand, we had the remarkable fact on record in our time, that, during the prevalence of famine in Ireland, the population starved while fine turbot might be taken in abundance just off the coast.

March 3. Lord Viscount Mahon, Pres.

H.R.H. the Prince of Syracuse, who has signally manifested his antiquarian zeal in the recent excavations at Cumæ, was elected a Royal Member of the Society, and the following gentlemen were elected Fellows :-Thomas Thorby, esq. merchant in London and Spain, of Blomfield-place, Maida-hill; William Harvey, of Lewes, wine-merchant, a local secretary of the Sussex Archæological Society; John Carter, esq. F.R.A.S. Sheriff of London and Middlesex; and John Charles Robinson, esq. of Brompton, architect.

Sir Henry Ellis exhibited impressions of the ancient Seal of the city of Carlisle, still in use, of the work of the latter end of the 13th or beginning of the 14th century. The obverse presents the Virgin and Child, and the counterseal a cross flory between four roses. On each side is the same ungrammatical legend: s. COMMVNIS CIVIVM KARLIOLENSIS with an inner legend on the obverse, AVE MARIA

mayor and common council of London, offering a reward of five hundred pounds for the discovery of the person or persons who had offered an indignity to the portrait of his Royal Highness the Duke of York in Guildhall." 2. A proclamation by the King for "Quieting the Postmaster-General and his Deputies." 3. A proclamation, dated 26th July, 1685, "summoning George Speake, esq. Colonel Danvers, John Trenchard, esq. and other gentlemen compromised in Monmouth's rebellion."

The Rev. Joseph Goodall exhibited a small bronze head of a man, filled with lead, discovered at Bromham, in Bedfordshire, supposed to have formed the weight of a balance, or steelyard.-Mr. Hawkins, of the British Museum, remarked that he thought it was not a steelyard weight, but a cast from some other object, perhaps an unguentarium. The Rev. Thomas Hugo exhibited a celt and a spear-head of bronze, found at Preston, in Lincolnshire. Mr. Chaffers exhibited some singular objects in lead, found recently in Paris, during excavations near the Louvre. One represents a man lying within a sarcophagus, with a long cross resting on his arm, and wearing a conical cap. Another figure has also a conical cap, and holds a long saw. A third was the figure of a bishop with mitre and crosier, his breast being covered with strange figures, resembling astrological signs.

Dr. Lukis resumed and concluded his remarks on the Megalithic structures of the primeval period.

ARCHEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.

March 4. Octavius Morgan, esq. M.P. Vice-President, in the chair.

A memoir was read by Mr. H. O'Neill, of Kilkenny, "On the Early Christian Monuments found in various parts of Ireland." The sculptured wayside crosses, and those found near ancient churches and monastic establishments in that country, are very numerous, presenting remarkable variety in their ornaments, the devices of sacred symbolism, as well as in the subjects of Scripture history, or the legends connected with the earliest times of the introduction of Christianity, represented with elaborate detail of design upon these curious monuments. Their date, Mr. O'Neill stated, had been supposed to range between the fifth and twelfth centuries; the precise age can be indeed accurately ascertained in but few instances. The remarkable crosses at Monasterboice and Clonmacnoise, which may be cited as the most striking examples, have been ascribed, with some degree of certainty, to the ninth, or, at the latest, to the tenth century.

The first of these is of unusual dimensions, measuring not less than twenty-five feet in height. In England few remains of a similar kind, or of equal importance, have been preserved to the present time; the sculptured crosses at Sandbach in Cheshire, and a few other early examples, may be mentioned; and such monuments occur more frequently in Wales, as also in Scotland, where many remarkable sculptures of the earliest Christian age have been made known to the antiquary through the valuable and accurate publications due to the liberality of Mr. Patrick Chalmers, of Auldbar. Monuments of this nature are necessarily much exposed to accidental injury and the decay of time, rendering it very desirable that faithful representations should be preserved; and Mr. O'Neill has been engaged on the praiseworthy object of collecting accurate delineations of the best examples found in Ireland, which he intends shortly to publish by subscription. He exhibited a selection from these drawings at the present meeting.

Mr. W. W. Wynne, M.P. gave a report of the extensive excavations, under his direction, on the site of Castell y Bere, a fortress of considerable extent in Merionethshire. The remains of that castle, where Edward I. resided during part of his campaign in 1284, had fallen so completely into decay as to present only a few shapeless masses of masonry, noticed by Pennant as presenting scarcely any feature of interest. The researches carried out by Mr. Wynne have brought to light, however, architectural details, sculp-. tured capitals and mouldings, proving that this stronghold had been equal, if not superior, to any military work of its age in the principality. About one third of the area has been laid open, and Mr. Wynne purposes to resume the work during the ensuing season. He exhibited numerous relics, weapons, implements, pottery, and various objects supposed to be chiefly of the time of Edward I.

Mr. Nesbitt described the shrine of St. Manchan, one of the most highly enriched examples of elaborate metal-work existing in Ireland, and exhibited fac-simile models of this curious work, as also of the cross of Cong, which presents considerable analogy in the details of ornament. The shrine is in the form of a small chapel, covered with chased decorations, human figures in high relief, and richly coloured enamels introduced in parts. The saint whose relics it contained died in 644; he was abbot of Leith, in King's County, and, although never canonised, has always been held in extreme veneration. Through Mr. Nesbitt's researches this singular work of early Irish art, attributed to the twelfth

century, has been brought under the notice of antiquaries; and it has recently been conveyed to Dublin by Dr. Lentaigne, to be placed in the Museum of Antiquities now in course of formation by the noble President of the Institute, as a division of the Great Industrial Exhibition at Dublin, to be opened in May. Lord Talbot has already secured some of the most striking objects of this nature, which will form, in conjunction with the museum of the Royal Irish Academy, placed at his disposal for this occasion, a most important and instructive display of Irish antiquities.

Mr. Edward Freeman gave a description of the recent discoveries at the Priory church of Leominster, of which he communicated some account to our last Magazine.

A communication was received from Dr. Bell, relating to the bronze gates of the cathedral of Hildesheim, in Hanover, bearing date 1015, and a bronze column in the adjacent cathedral close, on which are represented subjects of sacred history, arranged in a spiral band. Dr. Bell exhibited engravings portraying these curious works of art; and gave some account of another remarkable work in bronze, the sculptured gates at Novogorod, traditionally believed to have been brought from Cherson, in the Crimea, by Wladimir the Great, in 988.

Mr. Franks produced an impression from a beautiful engraved brass plate, part of a sepulchral memorial, a work of Flemish execution, similar to those at St. Alban's, at Lynn, and at Lubeck. This plate, of which the date is supposed to be about 1350, has been lately purchased by the trustees of the British Museum at the sale of the collection of the late Mr. Pugin.

The Hon. W. Fox Strangways exhibited a fac-simile of another engraved sepulchral memorial, of singular design, existing in a church in Surrey. Mr. Yates described some interesting Roman remains discovered near Wiesbaden, and preserved in the museum at that place. The Rev. C. F. Wyatt sent a drawing and account of a miniature sepulchral effigy, found a few months since in the chancel of Blechingdon church, Oxfordshire. A curious limning, a design for an enamelled badge of office, to be worn by Norroy King-of-Arms, was shewn by Mr. M. A. Lower, of Lewes. It was probably executed by Rotier, for Sir William Dugdale, in the reign of Charles II. whose arms and cipher it bears. Mr. Trollope sent representations of several Saxon urns, elaborately ornamented, lately found in the eastern parts of England. They bear much resemblance to the vases exhibited in Mr. Neville's splendid work on "Saxon Obsequies." Mr. Brackstone contributed several rare objects of bronze;

and Mr. Wynne brought a leaden plate, bearing an inscription in Hebrew characters, found in Wales. Sir Philip de Grey Egerton called attention to the discovery of several paintings in fresco in Gawsworth church, Cheshire, of which he produced coloured lithographs by Mr. Lynch, of Macclesfield. A large collection of casts from seals, lately obtained from the college documents at Cambridge, were shewn by Mr. Ready, of Lowestoft, comprising valuable examples hitherto unknown, especially the fine seal of Tiltey Abbey, Essex, of which the matrix has lately been found, as also those of Sir Thomas Bysshe, in the reign of Richard II. and of the Prebend of Dunham, in the diocese of Lincoln.

BRITISH ARCHEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION.

Feb. 23. Mr. George Vere Irving read an elaborate paper on "Ancient Camps in the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire." A paper by Mr. Just, on the "Roman Roads and Camps in the North-West of England," published in the last volume of the Journal of the Association, had led him to direct his attention to the remains of the same class in the intramurai province of Valentia. The subject presents more difficulties in this northern district than in the southern parts of the island. Not one of the eminent antiquaries who have treated of it agrees with the others on the general direction of the iters, far less on the site of particular stations. Mr. Irving had no intention of promulgating fresh theories when so many great authorities were at fault; but he proposed to describe all the camps and fortifications of the district, not confining the attention to those which alone might be alleged to be of Roman construction. Two undoubted Roman roads are met with in the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire. The first of these, which has been described by General Roy, leaves Carlisle and proceeds northward up the valley of the Annan to Drybbe church, where it splits into two branches. These re-unite in the head of Lanarkshire, near the old castle of Crawford, from which point the road continues down the right bank of the Clyde by Culter Bygar and Liberton. It then passes the well-known Roman camps of Carstairs and Cleghorn, and proceeds to Belstone in the parish of Carluke, where it enters the Middle Ward and joins the great reticulation of roads connected with the Northern Wall. The second, which does not appear to have been previously noticed, runs nearly at right angles to the other. Leaving the upper part of Ayrshire, it crosses a corner of Dumfriesshire, and then proceeds along the high ground between the Clyde and its tributary the Douglas Water, to near their

conflux, when it tends to the right, cutting off a remarkable loop of the former, which it crosses a little above the station at Carstairs. From this point it leads eastward, but soon splits into three branches, one leading to Edinburgh, the second to Linton, and the third to the Roman station at Lyne, in Peeblesshire. Along these routes Mr. Irving has found above forty camps, and he exhibited carefully prepared plans of each, at the same time describing the military capabilities of the sites, especially in connexion with that prime necessary-a supply of water. In many of these fortifications this essential point had been overlooked or neglected. In others it was provided for by springs situated within the ramparts, while in a few an artificial supply was provided for by the construction of wells. Mr. Irving also enumerated the various relics of antiquity-armlets, urns, and bronzes-which have been found in these camps, and exhibited drawings of many of them.

March 9. Mr. James exhibited a collection of spurs of various dates found in different parts of England, and Mr. Bartlett specimens of spurs obtained in Berkshire and Wiltshire, and two Roman horse-shoes. Mr. W. Meyrick exhibited a specimen of armour made in imitation of the puffed and slashed dresses of the sixteenth century. Sir S. Meyrick has figured in his work a specimen of this kind, and there are three small portions in the Tower, but inferior to Mr. Meyrick's, which consists of a jesset suitable for a boy about seven or eight years of age, engraved and elaborately inlaid with gold. He possesses also another portion for the arm of this suit. Mr. Meyrick also exhibited a pass-guard pauldron of the time of Henry VIII. russeted and inlaid with gold, representing a battlepiece, and a sword of the time of Elizabeth, having twelve heads set as medallions over the hilt and pommel, the latter of which is of elegant design. Mr. Bateman exhibited a brooch, in the shape of a coronet, with six points, on the top of each of which there is a space for a portion of coloured glass, ascribed to the later Anglo-Saxon period. Mr. Ashpitel exhibited one found at Maidstone lately, of a similar description, which, though unique as to form, was conjectured to be Roman. Mr. Bateman also exhibited a carved ivory knife-handle of the time of Charles II. representing the female dress of that period.

Mr. Gunston laid upon the table a variety of specimens of Roman antiquity, said to have been obtained from excavations made in the city of London. They have been subjected to a rigid scrutiny by the council, and Mr. Syer Cuming read a report upon GENT. MAG. VOL. XXXIX.

the specimens, shewing whence many have been obtained, and detailing a system of deception now extensively carried on in these matters. The Rev. Mr. Hugo exhibited three fine stone celts, lately obtained from Clontarf, near Dublin, and exhibiting the only known types found in Ireland. Mr. Tucker exhibited a pint pot of the time of Queen Anne, found in the Thames, and engraved with the name of "Richard Smith att ye Three Neots Tongs on London Bridg."

Mr. Pettigrew read the first portion of a paper "On the Origin and Antiquity of Playing Cards," together with a description of a pack printed in the time of the Commonwealth, representing the principal personages of that period, and the remarkable events of the time.

NUMISMATIC SOCIETY.

Feb. 24. Lord Londesborough, President, in the chair.

Mr. Roach Smith gave an account of the discovery of a collection of Saxon weights in a cemetery at Ozilden, in Kent. With them were found some swords and other weapons, some sccattæ, a coin of Justinian, probably struck in France in imitation of the genuine pieces of that emperor, and a pair of scales, evidently from their small size intended to weigh money with. The weights have all been carefully compared, but it has not been found possible to discover any common multiple of them. They are formed from Roman coins, the earliest being one of Faustina, and the latest one of Gratian or Valens.

Mr. J. G. Pfister read a paper on an unedited Gold Coin of Florence, struck in 1805, and called Il Zecchino di San Zenobio, or a Zenobino. Its type is that of the well-known sequins of Venice, and in the rude execution of its figures has a great resemblance to those of Lodovico Manni, the last Doge, A.D. 1780-1797. It represents on one side the figure of San Zenobio kneeling at the feet of our Saviour, and on the other that of St. John the Baptist within an aureole. This coin was struck at the solicitation of Cesare Lampronti, banker of Florence, on the 24th Aug. 1805, for the purpose of serving a commercial speculation in the Levant.

Mr. Vaux, in a short paper, called attention to two works lately published, which he considered to contain valuable

numismatic information: the first, the Catalogue of the collection of Don José Garcia de la Torre, by M. Gaillard, which was sold at Madrid during the last spring; and the second, an account of a small collection presented to the Royal Historical 3 H