ADDEESS OF JOHN EVANS, ESQ., D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S. PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF LONDON, DELIVERED AT THEIR ANNIVERSARY MEETING APRIL 28, 1890. LONDON: PRINTED BY NICHOLS AND SONS, FOE THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES, BURLINCxTON HOUSE. 1890. ADDBESS OF JOHN EVANS, ESQ,., D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S. PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUAKIES OF LONDON, DELIVERED AT TEIEIR ANNIVERSARY MEETING APRIL 28, 1890. LONDON: PKINTED BY NICHOLS AND SONS, FOR THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES, BURLINGTON HOUSE. 1890. ADDEESS TO THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUAEIES. ANNIVERSARY, APRIL 23, 1890. Gentlemen, We have this year again assembled on St. George’s day, being the statutory day for our anniversary meeting, and ac- cording to custom, which in some cases is stronger than law or statute, 1 have again to address to you a few words by way anniversary address. I think that we can look back upon the records of the past year with some degree of just satisfaction, but before referring to what the Society has done or gained, I must take into consideration the more painful subject of its losses. These, I am happy to say, have been less than usual, but not a few of our older Fellows have been removed from our ranks. Since I last had the honour of addressing you on April 30th, 1889, the Society has lost by death the following Fellows : ^Frederick William Cosens, Esq. Edward Hailstone, Esq. General Sir John Henry F.RS. George James John Mair, Esq. William Maskell, Esq., M.A. Rev, Edward Moore, M.A., Canon of Lincoln. * Walter Myers, Esq. Rev. William Luke Nichols, M.A. Cornelius Nicholson, Esq. *Rev. John Papillon, M.A. Sir James Allanson Picton, Knt. *Thomas Hayward Southby, Esq. Thomas Hordern Whitaker, Esq. John Turtle Wood, Esq. * Denotes Compounder. Lefroy, R.A., K.O.M.G., C.B., 4 In addition there have resigned : Rev. Walter Consitt Boulter, M.A. Richard Redmond Caton, Esq. Very Rev. Edwcird Meyrick Goulburn, D.D. On the other hand, I am happy to have to record that the following gentlemen have been elected Fellows of the Society : Rev. Samuel Edwin Bartleet, M.A.. Edward Milligen Beloe, Esq, William Thomas Bensly, Esq., LL.D. Robert Birkbeck, Esq. Sir Francis George Manningham Boileau, Bart. Edward Salmon Clarke, Esq. Henry Swainson Cowper, Esq. Rev. Edward Samuel Dewick, M.A. James Dalrym})le Duncan, Esq. Leland Lewis Duncan, Esq. Professor John Ferguson, iM.A., LL.D. * Edwin Hanson Freshfield, Esq., M.A. Ernest Leigh Grange, Esq. Rev. John Melville Guilding. Richard Hewlett, Esq. Professor Richard Claverhouse Jebb, Litt.D., LL.D. Rev. Thomas William Jex- Blake, D.D. Rev. George Edward Lee, M.A. John Young Walker MacAlister, Esq. Christopher Alexander Markham, Esq. Thomas Fairman Ordish, Esq. Rev. Elias Owen, M.A. Cuthbert Edgar Peek, Esq., M.A. Professor Henry Francis Pelham, M.A. Rev. Edward Augustus Bracken Pitman, M.A. Vincent Joseph Robinson, Esq. Walter Rowley, Esq. Itight Hon. Lord Savile, G.C.B. Rev. Alfred Fowler Smith, LL.D. Basil Woodd Smith, Esq. Rev. Thomas Stevens, M.A. Rev. Charles Swynnerton. Andrew White Tuer, Esq. Charles Welch, Esq. Sir James Whitehead, Bart. Rev. Edward Synge Wilson. The nett result of our gains and losses is an accession of 19 Fellows. * Denotes compounder. 5 Foremost on the list of our losses, as being, I believe, the father ” of the Society, I must place the name of Mr. Thomas Hayward Southey, who was elected a Fellow on December 21, 1826, many years before most of those who are here assembled began their mortal career. He died at his residence, Carswell House, near Farringdon, Berks, on the 25th of July last, in his 89th year. Although he was for nearly 63 years a Fellow of the Society, I am unable to trace any communication received from him. In Mr. Edward Hailstone, of Walton Hall, Wakefield, we have lost a Fellow of nearly fifty years’ standing, as he was elected in 1843. His antiquarian labours were chiefly in connection with his native county of York^ though some of his early communications to this Society related to subjects not immediately concerning that county. His Catalogue of Works relating to Yorkshire^ and his Portraits of Yorkshire Worthies^ illustrated by photographs from likenesses exhibited in the Leeds Exhibition of 1868, are standard works. His List of Persons returned to serve in the Parliament o/ 1656 is also in our Library. So recently as 1887 he exhibited at one of our meetings a good example of an Elizabethan mazer, and an inscribed bowl of beech made in the time of James I. He was in early days a frequent contributor to the Journal of the Archaeological Institute^ of which he was one of the founders. He was the possessor of a large collection of various relics, including portraits and satirical prints, and it is stated that he has bequeathed his valuable library of Yorkshire books, manu- scripts, and prints, to the Dean and Chapter of York. He died on March 24th, in the seventy-third year of his age. Mrs. Hailstone was, as is well known, one of the first English authorities on lace and needlework. Sir James Allanson Picton, of Sandyknowe, Wavertree, who died suddenly on the 15th of July last, had rather more than completed a forty years’ Fellowship of the Society, having been elected on June 7th, 1849. He was born on the 2nd December, 1805, and after a successful career as an architect and surveyor, became in 1849 a member of the municipal council of Liverpool, in which body he remained until the day of his death. During the long period that he was associated with the municipal affairs of Liverpool, vast progress has been made in raising that town as one of the centres where the value of science, art, and literature receives its due recognition. To Sir James Picton, in conjunction with the late Earl of Derby, Mr. Joseph Mayer, and other munificent donors, the foundation of the library, art gallery, and museum at Liverpool is due, and the circular library connecting the Brown Museum and the 6 Walker Art Gallery has received the appropriate name of the Picton Reading-room. He was a devoted student of all that related to the history of his native town, and his Memorials of Liverpool^ published in 1873, is an admirable work of its kind, and reached a second edition in 1375. His Philological Papers^ Notes of a Sketching Tour in France and Belgium, and Selec- tions from the Municipal Archives of Liverpool, are also in our library. Although Sir James Picton did not communicate any ]>apers to this Society, his contributions to the British Archaeo- logical Association were numerous, and he delivered the in- augural address at their Plymouth, Brighton, and Liverpool Congress, at which in 1887 he was President. He was also an active member of the Liverpool Architectural and Archaeo- logical Society, over which he more than once presided. Mr. Cornelius .Nicholson died at Ventnor on the 5th of July last at the mature age of eighty-five, having become a Fellow of this Society in 1862. Many years ago he was a ])artner in the firm of Hudson and Nicholson, booksellers at Kendal, and most of his earlier antiquarian labours were in connection with llie History of Westmorland. Many of his works are in our library. Among them may be mentioned The Annals of Kendal, which has passed through more than one edition. The Roma7is in Westmorland., published in 1877 ; Scraps of History of the Northern Suburb of London, 1879, and his latest work, A lecture on Burneside Hall, with a glimpse of the Border Wars, published so lately as 1886. In 1860 Mr. Nicholson published a tract on the Roman Station Alauna, Westmoreland, and in 1862, he communicated to this Society a paper on the Roman Station at Brougham,* supplemented by an account of the Castle of Brougham.f For many years he took an active part in railway matters, but his literary and archaeological tastes were never quite in abeyance. The Rev. Edward Moore, Canon of Lincoln, and for many years Incumbent of Spalding, was elected a Fellow of this Society in 1858. He took considerable interest in architectural questions, and so long ago as 1859 called attention to the dangerous state of the west front of Croyland Abbey — on the buildings of which he published in 1855 and 1866, some treatises that are in our library. On the yisit of the British Archaeological Association to Croyland in 1878, he coin- municrated to them a notice of St. Guthlac’s cell accompanied by a plan. He died on May 13th, 1889. The Rev. John Papillon, of Lexden, near Colchester, was a member of an old Huguenot family long settled in that * Proc. 2 S. Vol. ii. p. 60. t Op. cit. p. 79. 7 neighbourhood. He took a warm interest in local antiquities, and became a Fellow of this Society in 1843. His decease took place in October last. Mr. T. H. Whitaker was also one of our older Fellows, having been elected in 1849, but his only communication to us was in 1851 when he exhibited the upper stone of a quern found at Ribchester. The Rev. W. L. Nichols was another of our old Fellows, though of less standing in the Society, having been elected in 18t)5. His principal work is The Quantocks and their Associa- tions, printed for private circulation in 1873. He died on September 25th last. Mr. John Turtle Wood, though he did not become a Fellow of the Society until 1875, had for many years devoted himself to archaeological inquiries. He vas born in London in 1821, and was educated as an architect, practising his profession for some years in London, and exhibiting several designs at the Royal Academy from 1853 to 1857. In the latter year he pro- ceeded to Smyrna as the architect of the Smyrna and Aidin railway, but in the following year he threw up his appointment and commenced excavations at Ephesus, in the hope of dis- covering the remains of the famous temple of Diana. In this search he was for the moment unsuccessful, but he succeeded in finding the Odeum and the theatre of the city, having spent the labour of four years in the work and having seriously impaired his health. In 1864, having again funds placed at his disposal by the Trustees of the llritish Museum, he returned to Ephesus, and finally, on the last day of 1869, came upon the temple, 22 feet below the surface of the ground. It took him, however, nearly four years to complete the excavation of the site, during which period he suffered not only in health, but from having been stabbed by a native. The results of his work are fully set forth in his Discoveries at Ephesus, published in 1877, and on more than one occasion he favoured this Society with an account of the work as it proceeded. Most of the results of his excava- tions are preserved in the British Museum, including the base of one of the columns, ornamented with sculpture and bearing upon it a part of the dedicatory inscription of King Croesus. Even of late years he still cherished the hope of returning to Ephesus and continuing his researches, but after a few weeks’ illness he succumbed, on the 25th of March last, to an attack of heart disease, at Worthing. Mr. Walter Myers was elected into our body in 1877, and was well known as a diligent collector. During frequent visits to various parts of the Continent and to the East he was con- stantly adding to his stores, and from time to time exhibited 8 objects of much interest at our meetings, and most of us will remember the collection of Etruscan antiquities that he laid before us in 1887, and the torque and axe from Egypt that he exhibited two years previously. He died on the 1st of December last. General Sir John Henry Lefroy, K.C.M.G., C.B , F.R.S., closed a distinguished career on the 1 1th of the present month. He was tho son of the Kev. J. H. G. Lefroy, and was born at Crondall, in Hampshire, in 1817. In 1834 he entered the Royal Artillery, and, owing to his scientific attainments, was appointed Director of the Magnetical and Meteorological Obser- vatory at St. Helena in 1840, receiving a similar appointment at Toronto in 1842. During the next year he conducted a magnetic survey of North America from Montreal to wdthin the Arctic circle, the account of which he recently republished. On his return to England he held important military appointments, mostly of a scientific character becoming Director-General of Ordnance in 1868. From 1871 to 1877 he was Governor of Bermuda, and in 1880 he was for a time Governor of Tasmania. A\ e are here, how'ever, more concerned with the antiquarian side of his character. His tastes in that direction may be re- garded as hereditary, as he was a grandson of Antony Lefroy, of Leghorn, the catalogue of whose collection* of coins and antiquities was printed in 1763. This and some observations on a Greek marble published in Italian by Mr. Antony Lefroy are in our library. The grandson’s tastes were further developed through the accidental discovery by two of his brothers in 1828 of an important hoard of Merovingian and English gold coins and ornaments on the heath near Aldershot. In 1864 Lieut.- Col. Lefroy compiled the official catalogue of the museum of the Royal Artillery at Woolwich, and in 1868 he described the great cannon of Mahomet II. and some other great Oriental cannon, of some of which he presented photographs to this Society. In the same year he printed privately Notes and Documents relating to the Family of Loffroy of Cambray^ from which he was descended. On his return from Bermuda he communicated to us a paper on the Constitutional History of the oldest Jh'itish Plantation^ which is printed in the Archaeologia^* but it was not until 1884 that he became a Fellow of this Society, serving on our Council the following year. To the Numismatic Society he communicated several memoirs of interest and value, and he also occasionally contributed papers to the meetings of the Royal Archaeological Institute. Sir Henry Lefroy had been a Fellow* of the Royal Society since 1848, and served on the Council from 1878 to 1880. A man of a cultivated mind, of * Vol. xlvii, p. 6.5. 9 many pursuits, and great knowledge of the worlds he gained and retained the friendship of many, and his loss will be widely felt. Mr. William Maskell, of Penzance, had been a Fellow of this Society since 1855, and occasionally exhibited seals, pictures, and other antiquities at our meetings. An ancient French picture was presented by him to the Society, and some churchwarden'’s accounts that he communicated to us form the subject of a paper by Mr. E. Peacock in the Archaeologia.'^ Having been educated at Oxford, he became vicar of St. Mary church, near Torquay, and was one of the chaplains of the bishop of Exeter at the time when the Gorham case created great controversy, and as a result he, in company with Arch- deacon Manning and others, seceded to the Church of Kome. His studies in mediaeval ecclesiastical practices are illustrated by his work on the Uses of S arum ^ Bangor^ &c., and his Monu- menta Ritualia Ecclesiae Anglicanae^ both of which have reached a second edition. His privately printed account of the Wander^ ings of Prince Charles Edward after the Battle of Culloden appeared in 1873, and one out of the fifty copies that were struck off is in our library. We also possess his Description of the Ivories in the South Kensington Museum,^ published for the Science and Art Department in 1872. Mr. Maskell was born at Shepton Mallet, in Somerset, about the year 18 14, and was a justice of the peace and a deputy -lieutenant for Cornwall. He died on the 12th instant. Although Mr. Henry Campkin, who was elected one of our Fellows in 1861, had retired from our body in 1884, he was so well known to many of our Fellows as the accomplished librarian of the Reform Club, and so constant an exhibitor at our meetings nearly thirty years ago, that I hardly like to let his decease at the beginning of this month pass unnoticed. Owing to ill-health he resigned his post at the Reform Club in 1879, having done much to improve its library in the depart- ments of geographical and historical literature. He had pub- lished in 1851 a small poetical volume, Peter Little^ which has passed through four editions, and was the author of some other poems. His archaeological work was mainly in connection with the county of Sussex, where he had several antiquarian friends, including the late Mark Antony Lower. His index to the first twenty-five volumes of the Sussex Archaeological Collections is a monument of his patience and skill as well as of his attachment to the history of that county. The Rev. Harry Mengden Scarth, prebendary of Wells and rector of Wrington, though not one of our Fellows, had for * Vol. xlvi. p. 195. 10 niaiiv years been one of oiir active local secretaries for Somerset. His knowledge of Roman antiquities was wide and varied, and he ranked among the highest English authorities on the relics of the period of the Roman occupation of this country. His communications to our Society were numerous and important, and for thir<^y years, commencing with 1855, there is hardly a volume of our Proceedings which does not record one or more contributions from his pen. These were not entirely confined to Roman subjects, but also related to subjects either of earlier or later date. His paper on the camps on the river Avon, at C/lifton, with remarks on the structure of ancient ramparts, is printed in the Archaeologia.^ Prebendary Scarth was also an active member of the Royal Archaeological Institute and the British Archaeological Association, the journals of which societies contain a large number of papers by him. He was also a frequent contributor to the Proceed ngs of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural Historg Society. He took a lively interest in the Roman remains at Bath, on which, in 1864, he published a quarto volume under the title of Aqnce Solis ; or^ Notices of Roman Bath. He died at Tangier on the 5th of this month, in the 76th year of his age. L must now turn to some of those subjects in which the Society has been practically interested during the past year. One of these, the manner in which we could best and most usefully co- operate with the various local Archaeological Societies through- out England and Wales, has already been mentioned in my last Anniversary Address. In it I stated that another Conference of the various Societies, including the Royal Archaeological Institute and the British Archaeological Association was about to be held, and that a small Committee had been appointed to consider what subjects could be most profitably brought under the notice of the Conference. The meeting was held on July 17, and was fairly well attended. Resolutions were passed in favour of the preparation in duplicate of archaeological maps of each county with the view of one of the copies being eventually deposited in our library. It was also resolved that local societies be requested to keep watch against wilful or injudicious destruc- tion of ancient monuments or buildings. A Committee was appointed to consider the best methods of utilising those valu- able depositaries of local history. Parish Registers, and atten- tion was called to a Bill for the Preservation of Public and Private Records. The number of Societies in union with the Society of Antiquaries amounts at the })resent time to nearly thirty, and it is hoped that a sure foundation has been laid for Vnl. xliv., p. 428. 11 cordial co-operation between most of the bodies engaged in one common pursuit, the extension of our knowledge of the past. It is proposed that another Conference should be held in July next, when it will probably be found that some progress has been made in carrying out some of the suggestions that met with approval at the last Conference. The quadrennial period for which our own Local Secretaries are appointed came to an end in April, 1889, and in making the re-appointments the whole list was carefully considered, and not only some few changes made, but the total number consider- ably increased. Some hints as to the manner in which those who are so good as to undertake the office of Local Secretary can most usefully and effectually perform their duties are about to be issued by the Council. These will be accompanied by a short set of questions, which will be repeated from time to time, and, if answers are furnished, will enable us to know what dis- coveries and researches are being made in various parts of the kingdom, and will also supply us with information as to any monuments, earthworks, or buildings, that are in danger of destruction or injury. It is, of course, not at all the intention of this Society that its Local Secretaries should in any way supplant or interfere with the work of the local Archaeological Societies. With these, it is hoped, that our Secretaries will always entertain friendly relations, and assist in promoting the good feeling that ought to exist between the parent Society and its offshoots throughout the country. Within the last few months I have been able to start, and to make some considerable progress in carrying out a scheme that has long been upon my mind — I mean the establishment of a Research Fund in connection with this Society, by means of which we should always have at our disposal some regular income that could be devoted to the purpose of archaeological research. Already the fund, thanks to the favourable manner in which the scheme has been received and liberally supported by our Fellows, amounts to upwards of £1,800, so that the Council will have an annual income of from £50 to £60 at their disposal. The terms on which the fund has been raised have been purposely left wide, so that there is no necessity for the whole or indeed any part of the income being expended in any given year, and the dis^ cretion of the Council is not fettered except in so far as that the income is to be expended in the advancement of archaeological knowledge. With the satisfactory results before us of the investigations of Canon Greenwell, General Pitt-Rivers, and many other antiquaries, there will be but little difficulty in find- ing an ample field for research, and in the course of a few years we may reasonably hope that our knowledge of many sites of 12 Homan and otlier early occupations of this country will be largely increased. No doubt many such explorations as those I have in view will be carried on at our own suggestion and entirely under our own directions, but this will, I hope, not be all. We shall now be in a position to aid those local Archaeological Societies on the activity of which so much of our advance in knowledge depends, not only with our advice, but also with pecuniary grants to assist them in carrying out such researches as they may find it desir- able to undertake, and which may commend themselves to our (Amncil. I sincerely hope that the aid which we may thus be able to render will strengthen the bond of union between the numerous associations throughout the country and the parent society in London, and if this be the case'our fund will be ‘‘ twice blessed.” I may add one word of caution to those who in disposing of their worldly goods by will may be inclined to leave to the Treasurer of this Society some sum of money that may be added to the Hesearch Fund. It is that such a legacy be directed to be paid from the testator’s pure personal estate. 1 have in my cajiacity of Treasurer of the Royal Society known benevolent intentions to a great extent frustrated by the omission of such a limitation. Of course with a fund so recently started, and the subscrip- tions to which have in many instances not been received, and indeed are not yet due, the income is at present non-existent. The Council have, however, felt justified in to some extent anti- cipating onr income, and have made a grant of 25/. from the fund towarcis the excavations upon the site of the Roman city of Silchester This grant has been augmented from the ordinary funds of the Society, and our subscription has formed a nucleus around which others liav^e gathered, so that we shall shortly be in a position to begin work. The noble owner of the soil, the Duke of Wellington, has expressed himself most favourably towards the undertaking, and will be willing to aid in the pre- servation of any objects of importance that may be discovered, and much general interest has been evinced towards the proposal. The site selected for first examination is one of the square blocks or iusuloi^ bounded on all four sides by streets, and lying immediately north of the forum, which was excavated some few A ears ago. It is to be hoped that something may he found which will clear up ihe doubts which now exist as to the identi- fication of Silchester with Calleva Attrebaturn, and clear up the question as to its relation to the Gegontiaci. During the past year the Society has aided in the excavation of a higtily interestiiig site, belonging, not to Itoinan, but to medieval times, the Cluniac j)riory of Castle Acre, in Norfolk. 13 We are still looking forward to an account of the results of the work, which was carried out under the superintendence of our indefatigable Assistant-Secretary, Mr. Hope, whose previous experience in such explorations renders his assistance invaluable. During the past year Mr. Hope was also called in by the Corporation of Leeds to advise as to the best method of insuring the preservation of Kirkstall Abbey, which has now become the property of the Corporation, who are laudably anxious to fulfil their duties as the trustees for the public of an important his- torical monument. By the direction of the Council Mr. Hope has also visited Oxford, in order to advise as to the examination of the shrine of Saint Frideswide in Christ Church cathedral. He has also visited Kenilworth, to inspect what was being done in the Priory church, and to report on a mass of lead, probably the result of the roof having been stripped at the time of the suppression of the monasteries ; and he has also been to the interesting old church of Kirk Hammerton, which is partly of Saxon date, and which is about to be restored, it is hoped, in a conservative spirit. As a matter of some interest to many Fellows of our Society I may mention that a testimonial to the veteran antiquary, Mr. Charles Roach Smith, has been set on foot by some of his friends and admirers, and that the appeal made by them has been heartily responded to by a large number ot his fellow-workers. The form that the testimonial will assume is that of a medal bearing Mr. Roach Smith's portrait on the obverse and a suitable inscription on the reverse. The balance of the fund will be handed to him, and already I have been authorised to forward to him a hundred guineas as some token of the regard and esteem in which he is held ; a mark of recognition which in his but too rapidly failing health has, I believe, afforded him no slight gratification. As to other matters in which the Society has been requested to intervene, I am sorry to say that the threatened destruction of the original pointed clerestory windows in the presbytery of the abbey church of St. Albans, to which our attention was called by Archdeacon Lawrance, in June last, has been ruthlessly carried out by Lord Grimthorpe, who has entirely altered the whole of the principal features of that ancient edifice, and in the name of restoration ” completely destroyed the architectural history of one of the most important and interesting of our public monuments. At our closing meeting in June last atten- tion was directed to a proposal for removing the ancient screen or pulpitum in the choir of the cathedral church at Rochester, and a resolution was passed expressing the feelings of the Society 14 aorainst such a destruction of an object unique of its kind and date. The letter from the Dean of Rochester recording the rejection by a majority of the chapter of Mr. Pearson’s design for the erection of an open screen is embalmed in a note in our Proceedings.^' While on the subject of church “ restoration,” it will be well to call attention to the fact that the Incorporated Church Building Society has liberally presented to us a large collection of old plans and drawings of churches throughout the kingdom. Some of these are of course but of small interest, but many are of great value as being trustworthy, and in some cases unique, records of the form and character of ancient churches before they fell into the hands of the restorer. A committee is still considering the manner in which these drawings can best be arranged so as to be available for reference and use, and no doubt will come to a satisfactory conclusion. When it is known that such drawings are valued and carefully preserved by the Society, doubtless many of our architectural friends will be glad to deposit other interesting plans and drawings in our portfolios, where they can at any time be consulted in case of need, and where they will be handed down to future gene- rations. During the past year our library has received many valuable presents, including collections of seals from Mrs. Way and Mrs. Perceval, names that will always be held in affection among us, and also a selection of books from the library of our old and valued Fellow the late Mr. Octavius Morgan, presented to us by his nephew, our Director, Mr. Milman. A fine series of the early Italian bronze coins, or ces grave^ has likewise been given us by Mr. W. J. Belt, F.S.A. During the same period something has been done towards getting onr curious and valuable series of ancient paintings into better condition, and towards preserving them from the deleterious effects of a London atmosphere. Some further outlay under this liead is however desirable. The papers that have been communicated to us during the j)ast year have been fully as numerous ami imj)ortant as usual, and so also have been the objects exhibited. Among the latter our most gracious patron. Her Majesty the Queen, was pleased to allow the ancient coronation spoon — not improbably dating from the days of Henry III. — to be included. Most of the im- })ortant communications are either in the volume of the A rchaeo- logia now upon the table, or will be printed in the next volume. The subjects treated of range from late-Celtic dowi\ to medieval times, and in addition we have had on more than one occasion • Vol. xii., p. 419. brought before us papers relating to Egyptian antiquities and literature. We must all be glad to see the field of our researches extended in that direction. Not only are the history and re- mains of that wonderful people — the ancient Egyptian nation — interesting in themselves, but from the fact that an approxi- mate date can be assigned to so large a proportion of their relics, we can extend our conclusions to some extent to the analogous ancient remains of other contiguous nations, and thus bring Egyptian chronology, to some slight extent at all events, to bear on the prehistoric remains of the peoples who occupied the shores of the Mediterranean, and even of those in the interior of Europe. Recent discoveries are tending to confirm the view that all the civilisation and appliances of Egypt were not entirely the result of internal development, but that ancient Babylonia, Mesopotamia, and other countries of which but little more than the name survives, had even more to do with the progress of the useful arts in Egypt than has hitherto been supposed. When we consider that it is eighty years ago that the Rosetta Stone occupied the attention of our Society, in the apartments of which it for some time found a resting place, and when we bear in mind that the interpretation of the hieroglyphic and other forms of Egyptian writing has now been placed on a firm footing, in no small degree through the labours of Fellows of this Society, we ought gladly to welcome contributions like those which we have lately received from Mr. Budge. Unfortunately not a few of the interesting monuments still existing in Upper Egypt have within the last few months suffered much from wanton mutilation at the hands of Arabs or tourists, or both. The subject has been brought under the notice of the Council, and I have, in their name, memorialised the Foreign Office to make a friendly remonstrance with the Egyptian Government, in the hope of preventing such vandalism in the future. I am glad to say that steps have been taken to prevent a recurrence of such outrages. While speaking of the Archaeologia I may add that, owing to the extension in the number of our Fellows, which now amounts to 683, and to the public demand, it has been found desirable, and indeed necessary, to increase the number of copies printed from 750 to 850. It is a question worthy of consideration whether a small number of Vol. LI., which is the first volume of the New Series, might not with advantage be re- printed. A feature of considerable historical and archaeological interest during the last few months has been the Tudor Exhibition, mainly organised by our Honorary Secretary, Mr. Dillon, and our Fellow, Mr. Grueber. I need not dilate on the artistic and 16 otlier treasures there brought together, with which, doubtless, most of you are familiar. It is, however, satisfactory to think that a permanent record of this remarkable collection will remain in the shape of an Illustrated Catalogue, with durable ])hotographic reproductions of the principal pictures, armour, and relics there exhibited. It is hardly necessary for me to mention all the archaeological publications of the year, but I must call especial attention to the facsimile reprint of a magnificent papyrus, lately acquired by the British Museum, and within the last few weeks pub- lished by the Trustees, as I think that it will prove of great interest, not oidy to Egyptian scholars, but to all that care for the relics of ancient civilisation. It is The Book of the Dead, a Facsimile of the Papyrus of Ani in the British Museum. Not only is this magnificent papyrus faithfully reproduced in colours ill a series of thirty-seven large plates, but on each of these an account is given in English of the subjects represented in each of the numerous vignettes, so as to form a running commentary on this remarkable production of the scribes of some thirteen centuries before our era. An interesting introduction from the pen of Mr. Le Page Renouf is prefixed, which contains translations of all the important portions of this ancient ritual. To this is appended a list of the principal mythological names tliat occur in the papyrus, with explanatory remarks, forming a comprehensive guide to the Egyptian Pantheon. The publication of 'this work in the form in which it has appeared, and at the extremely reasonable price at which it is sold, will, I hope, do something to render more popular the study of Egyptian archaeoloiry and increase the interest which is even now widely felt in all that relates to that ancient people. I may add that the papyrus was obtained for the British Museum by Mr. E. A. W. Biulge. I must not, however, detain you longer, and will now only add my thanks for the attention with whicli you have listened to this somewhat tedious address and for the uniform courtesy which during the past five years I have, as President, constantly received at your hands. [Proc. S.A.L. 2 S. xiii. 68. \_Frbm the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Feh. G, 1890.] Manning, F.S.A., exhibited an inscribed depth of eight feet in the churchyard at Shelf hanger, Norfolk. It is of silver-gilt, circular, five-eighths of an inch in diameter, and has tv^o coloured glass beads set in raised bezels ; one green, the other deep blue. The acus remains, and where its point rests on the circle there is a quatre- foil. The circle is slightly ridged ; the inner face is engraved with a flowing pattern, and the outer one with the following inscription : losv iGci 7TTI vai. fourteenth century. French at that period in England was bad, and the President suggested that the motto was a blundered version of one of a class not uncommon as a posy on a love-gift, and in modern French would read : JE suis ICI A TOI VOICI. This opinion was afterwards confirmed by Mr. Franks, in whose collection of rings at the British Museum are several with very similar mottoes, and, as regards the first line, almost identical. The frequency of inscriptions on rings, seals, etc., beginning with Je su for je suis suggests the probability that a double purpose was intended to be served ; the sacred name Jesu being reckoned a charm. The Bev. C. R. brooch found at a INSCRIBED BROOCH FROM SHELPH ANGER, NORFOLK. (Full size.) Its date is early I* u i- i’’* > ’ I