I take the liberty of transmitting to you a short account of three Roman urns found some years since in this neighbourhood, and mentioned briefly in a former letter which I did myself the honour of sending you, together with some notice of a very curious cromlêh lately discovered by accident.

Mr. Brander having entertained me at dinner with a desert served up in Roman earthen-ware out of his cabinet : on my mentioning this to my brother, he gave me the account [which stands in my paper, Archaeol. vol. V. p. 282.] of his having himself dragged up some pieces of Roman earthen-ware from off the Pudding-pan Sand or Rock, and showed me the three pieces there referred to, with several fragments of black earthen-ware. On examining them I observed on one the stamp Attiliani M. perfect and distinct; on the other, the traces, in the same sort of letters and stamp, of the same name, though not perfect. Whether the black sort ever had any stamp did not appear on the small fragments which I saw. I was led by this circumstance into a train of conjecture (for all that I have written on the subject deserves no better name) on the things themselves, and the place where they were found: and wrote a little memoire on them. In return to Mr. Brander's civility, I sent this paper to him, with liberty, if he pleased, of communicating it to the Society. At the same time that he communicated this paper in 1778, he exhibited six specimens of his Roman earthen-ware, said to have been fished up at the mouth of the Thames. A note referring to these pieces, and not to those on which I wrote, was, without the sanction of the Society, subjoined to this paper as published in the Archaeologia, vol. V. p. 282. 1779. I had observed that the name Attilianus only (as far as I could see) was on this earthen-ware. The note observes first, that the earthen vessels mentioned in this paper are in the cabinet of Gustavus Brander, Esq. next gives the six specimens of vessels, referred to in that note, on one only of which appears the name of Attilianus, This directly contradicts the fact which I had stated as the ground of my conjecture.

Permit me, through your hands, to lay before the Society over which you so worthily preside, the enclosed papers, relating to a subject not foreign to their enquiries. I am sensible indeed there needs some apology for the many imperfections and errors that may be found therein; but, as I am persuaded, they will meet with the greatest degree of candor; I venture without any further hesitation to introduce this little essay, under your sanction, to the consideration of those, who I trust will both rectify the errors, and add many more curious observations to these imperfect hints.

My attention was lately drawn at the Scarborough Museum to a small course dark earthen vase, having fifteen perforations like loop-holes through it, which was found, together with an urn, in a tumulus, barrow, or howe, at Corn-Boots, or Camp-Butts, near Hackness and Scalby, about four miles north-west of Scarborough. It is two inches and a quarter high, and three inehes in diameter, and is ornamented with horizontal, perpendicular, and oblique lines. The sketch of it which I send herewith, affords a correct representation.

In answer to your question, whether I had given any attention to Gothic architecture during my late continental tour, I have to say, although that style of art necessarily formed but a subordinate part in my system of foreign study, I could not avoid looking with much interest at every specimen of it which occurred in my route; not only from the pleasure of contemplating a species of art to which every Englishman, from early habits and its own intrinsic merit, must feel considerable attachment, but from a curiosity to see in what manner it had been treated by foreigners. The examples of this style in Germany are numerous and splendid; and though there are many in Italy, it may be remarked that they are generally in a more mixed and unformed character of design, a defect that may be ascribed to the aspect which the face of that country, different from all others, formerly presented with regard to more ancient architectural remains.

In the year 1779 some labourers digging for stone in a field called Stockwoods, at Comb end-farm, belonging to Samuel Bowyer, Esq. in the parish of Colesbourn In Gloucestershire, discovered the remains of a very considerable building at a small depth below the surface of the earth, which on a further investigation appeared clearly, from the remains of tessellated pavements which were found in several places, to have been a Roman house. The floor of one room was preserved quite entire, the walls remaining in many places near three feet in heighth. Its dimensions were fifty-fix feet in length and fourteen in breadth (see pl. XX. fig. 1.) The entrance to it was by a stone-step on the sound side. Immediately above this pavement were found many of the slates with which the roof had been covered: they were of a rhomboidal form, and several of them had the nails with which they had been fastened remaining in them.

The Westminster Retable is the most important thirteenth-century panel painting to survive from northern Europe and, quite arguably, from all of western Europe (pl. XXVIa). An oak panel measuring approximately 0.95m high by 3.33m wide, it is divided vertically into five compartments. In the centre is the figure of Christ, standing, blessing and holding in his left hand an orb or globe upon which is painted a delicate miniature landscape (pl. XXVIb). He is flanked by the Virgin Mary and St John the Evangelist who both hold palm fronds. Iconographically this grouping is unique in medieval art. Each figure stands in an architectural niche of high Gothic design. To either side of the central group are four medallions arranged in the Islamic star-and-cross pattern. Each of these eight-pointed star medallions contained a narrative scene, of which three on the left survive: the Raising of the Daughter of Jairus, the Healing of the Blind Man and the Feeding of the Five Thousand (pl. XXVIc). Such miracle scenes from the adult life of Christ were but rarely depicted in the Middle Ages. At either end of the panel are niches for standing figures of saints; only St Peter on the left survives, although ghostly vestiges of his counterpart, presumably St Paul, on the right remain visible.

I beg leave to communicate, through your hands, to the Society of Antiquaries, a fac-simile Copy of a curious Manuscript, preserved in the Public Library at Ghent.

The Manuscript appears to be an illuminated transcript of a Report, drawn up by one of the followers of King Edward the Fourth in his final expedition from Zeland, anno 1471, and forwarded to the Court of Charles the Bold Duke of Burgundy, through whose advice and aid the same had been principally planned and effected.

Galloway in the early period of the Scottish monarchy consisted of that tract of country which now comprehends the shire and stewarty of Galloway, Nithsdale, Carrick, and the western part of Airshire, with part of Lanerickshire. This extensive tract, appears to have been totally independent, both of the Scottish and Pictish kingdoms, and was governed by Reguli, or Princes. Bede informs us that in the year 412, St. Ninian was sent to the South Picts, and to Whithorn in Galloway, and he calls Candida Casa, or Whithorn in Galloway, one of the four Northumbrian bishopricks.

Cylindrical objects lying on their sides appear in a number of paintings and stucco reliefs in Roman Italy, and can be divided into three groups: those which serve as seats for actors in figure-scenes, those which appear amid groups of inanimate objects, and those which are provided with attachments resembling the handles of garden-rollers. (A full catalogue of known examples is given, not only in paintings and stuccoes, but also in other media.) Previous writers have tended to seek an all-embracing explanation, however fantastic, for these cylinders; but it is better to consider the groups separately. The first group are probably discarded column-drums, and the other two are probably rollers employed for preparing palaestra-surfaces (though, in origin, they too may be column-drums). The roller, unlike the simple column-drum, seems to have enjoyed only a temporary vogue as an artistic motif, and to have been confined to minor decorative work in the cities of Campania.

The five matrices of ecclesiastical seals exhibited to-night were bought by the writer from a dealer in antiquities in the county of Durham. Of their previous history nothing appears to be known. The writer is unable to identify two of them with any certainty, but it is hoped that their publication may lead to their identification being established. The silver matrix of the armorial seal (no. 6), exhibited by our Fellow Mr. R. C. Bosanquet, was recently found by him among a collection of family seals, medals, etc., dating from the early part of the nineteenth century; there is no record of how or when it came into the possession of his family.