In November, 1886, being at Aylesford in company with my father Dr. John Evans and with Dr. Sebastian Evans, we paid a visit to the sand and gravel pit belonging to Messrs. Silas Wagon and Son, our immediate object being to search for palaeolithic implements which had been discovered at this spot. Our attention was then called to another and highly interesting discovery that had just been made whilst removing the surface earth, which here to a depth of about three feet covers the old river deposits. This consisted of a bronze pail or situla (fig. 11), and a small fragment of another, an ænochoê (fig. 14), a long-handled pan or patella (fig. 16), and two fibulæ (figs. 17, 18), also of bronze, together with calcined bones and fragments of earthenware vases. On examination the situla proved to be a characteristic example of that peculiar style of art which had taken root in Britain during the century or so that preceded the Roman Conquest, and to which Mr. Franks has given the name of “Late-Celtic.” The ænochoê, or bronze vase, the pan and fibulæ were also of great interest as representing imported specimens of late Greek or Italian fabrics. The earthenware vases themselves exhibited an elegance of form and a style of manufacture such as had not yet been associated with British remains in this country, and which, as I hope to show, point not less distinctly to Gaulish and in a somewhat remoter degree to North Italian connexions.

Subsequent to the publication of British Barrows in 1877, which recorded the opening of two hundred and thirty-four sepulchral mounds, situated in six counties, all, with the exception of Gloucestershire, in the north of England, I have examined sixty-one in addition. I propose in the following account to give the precise details of the exploration of these barrows, in order that the facts then observed may be put on record, and made available for the use of those interested in this important branch of our native archæology.

In the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London for April 6th, 1874, it is mentioned that the Durham Archaeological Society had “undertaken to give an account of a very curious cross at Kelloe, sculptured with subjects relating to the Invention of the Cross.” This undertaking has not yet been carried out, but we have recently had a drawing made, and this I send for exhibition at one of our meetings, in the hope that some further information may be brought to bear upon it. It will at once be seen that the cross is of Norman, not Saxon date. It had been broken up and used as walling material, but on the discovery of the pieces they were put together again and fixed up against the inside of the chancel wall, where they now are. We were told by the then rector, who had this done, that the back is quite plain, from which, and from its being so thin, it would seem to have always stood against a wall, as at present, or at any rate not to have been an outdoor cross. The material is a fine greenish grey sandstone. The sculpture for the most part speaks for itself. In the transverse arms of the cross we have the inscription, IN HOC VINCES. The uppermost subject is that of an angel revealing to St. Helen in a dream where the cross would be found. Below this are two figures, one probably representing St. Helen, to whom the church is dedicated.

I am enabled by the kindness of a friend in Canterbury to place before the Society a tracing and a photograph of the wall painting which has been recently discovered in the apse of St. Anselm's chapel in Canterbury cathedral church, together with a ground plan of the chapel, showing its position. The painting is worthy of attention: first on account of its antiquity, and secondly on account of the singular fact that for seven hundred years it has been hidden from sight.

The papyrus which is transcribed and translated in the following pages is preserved in the collection of Egyptian antiquities in the British Museum, where it bears the number 10188. It was found at Thebes in the year 1860, and was purchased by the late Mr. A. H. Rhind; in 1865 it was sold to the trustees of the British Museum by Mr. David Bremner, together with a number of other papyri collected by Mr. Rhind. A few years later its existence was pointed out by Dr. Birch to Dr. Pleyte, who wrote a short article upon it, in which he gave a description of the chapters and translated some passages principally from the first work written on the papyrus. In November, 1886, a further account of it was given by me, together with hieroglyphic transcripts of some important passages in it.

I have the honour to exhibit, through the kindness of the owner, Mrs. Rinington of Tynefield, Penrith, a planispheric astrolabe of English make. It was included among the antiquities and curiosities exhibited at a recent art and industrial exhibition held at that place, and my attention was drawn to it by a member of the committee, who asked by what name it should be catalogued. I must own that I guessed rather than knew that the object was an astrolabe, but as to its uses I was profoundly ignorant; I borrowed the instrument and endeavoured to inform myself. I found this difficult to do, as the treatises on astrolabes are rare and scarce, and it is impossible to obtain a sight of some of them without a visit to London: this I was unable through illness to undertake. The standard work on the subject is Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe; addressed to Ms son Lowys, and dated 1391. This has been most ably edited for the Early English Text Society by Professor Skeat, and to it I am much indebted. There is also an earlier edition by Mr. Brae, in 1870, which I have not seen. There is a valuable paper in The Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, vol. xii. entitled Remarks on an Astrolabe, by Robert Taylor, M.A., which gives a description of an astrolabe of English make, the property of Mr. Hyett of Painswick House, Gloucestershire. A paper on the astrolabe, by the late Octavius Morgan, F.S.A., is also interred in the Archaeologia, vol. xxxiv., under the title of Supplementary Observations on an Astronomical and Astrological Table Clock, together with an account of the Astrolabe.

The following notes, mostly made on the spot, record the discovery of a further portion of the Roman wall of London, and give such details respecting its construction as it has been possible to observe.

The Government having determined to erect additional buildings to the General Post Office in St. Martin's le Grand, certain steps were taken in order to ascertain the nature of the ground on which these buildings were to be placed. For this purpose, in the latter part of 1887, shafts were sunk along a line from Aldersgate Street to King Edward Street, some yards south of the old money order office and parallel to Bull and Mouth Street, a street now swept away. In sinking these pits the workmen came upon the Roman wall, and afterwards, as the process of preparing the site for the new buildings proceeded, a considerable fragment of it was unearthed running east and west, and extending from Aidersgate Street on the one side to King Edward Street on the other. It was found that the line of buildings and walls forming the southern boundary of the churchyard of St. Botolph, Aldersgate Street, was based upon this wall, and it seems very probable that the churchyard and church above named partly occupy the ground filling up the original ditch.

At the west end of the great abbey church of SS. Peter and Paul at Glastonbury are the ruins of a chapel of very remarkable character.

It was built on the site of a vetusta ecclesia dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of very great antiquity, which was consumed by fire, together with the great church and nearly all the abbey buildings, in 1184.

As the vetusta ecclesia, from its sanctity and the number of relics it contained, was a holy place much resorted to by pilgrims, its reconstruction was forthwith commenced, and carried out with such speed that “about 1186” it was ready for consecration by Reginald, bishop of Bath.

The episcopate of Roger of Salisbury, first bishop who bore the title of Bath and Wells, is short, but memorable in the annals of the church of Wells.

It was the time when the rule of election of the bishop by the joint action of the two chapters of the monks of Bath and the canons of Wells was authoritatively and finally settled, and the style of the bishop, Episcopus Bathoniensis et Wellensis, was officially adopted.

The roll of the Deans of Lichfield will favourably compare with those of any of our cathedral churches of the old foundation. Several of them have been distinguished scholars and theologians; one or two of them made some mark in the history of their country at a time when high ecclesiastics were frequently statesmen; twelve of their number obtained preferment to sees episcopal and archiepiscopal; whilst three, including the present Dean (whose name will ever be associated with the noble restoration of the west front of the cathedral church), were for many years Prolocutors to the Province of Canterbury.

Accuracy in dating is of the first importance amongst the various contributions made by the antiquary for the use of the historian. The different commencements of the year and the introduction of the new style are well-known causes of confusion in dating events and documents; and it will perhaps not be devoid of interest if we now examine one portion of this large subject. The Catholics of this country in queen Elizabeth's time were in this matter in a peculiar position. They took their citizenship from England and their religion from Rome. The new style had been introduced by a pope, and for that very reason was not accepted in England; and indeed, apart from this, the kalendar had always been Church property, connected closely with fasts and feasts and prefixed to breviaaries and missals, so that it would seem most probable that Catholics would follow the new style. On the other hand, it is plain that if they had done so they would have been exposed to a thousand practical inconveniences while living in the midst of a people who reckoned by the old style, and we cannot therefore decide the question à priori. Unfortunately proofs are not very numerous; but we will see to what conclusion we are brought by such proofs as we can find. And there will probably be some interest in the cognate inquiry when the English Catholics ceased to use the ancient Rites of Sarum and York, and in their stead adopted the Roman Rite.

Our Fellow Mr. A. J. Butler has been kind enough to draw my attention to the very interesting old manor house of Tiptofts, near Saffron Walden, in Essex, which is now used as a farm-house, and is the property of Brasenose College, Oxford, of which Mr. Butler is the Bursar. On visiting the place I was much surprised to find that the original house, built wholly of oak, of which a considerable portion still exists, is as early in date as the second half of the thirteenth century.

This recently discovered Roman villa stands at the foot of a hill, in a very beautiful situation, in one of the valleys of the Cotswold hills, about three miles from Winchcombe, in Spoonley Wood.

This elevated and yet sheltered district, with its rich soil and fine timber, appears to have been a favourite place of residence for wealthy Romans.

Remains of several other houses of Roman date have been found within a short distance of Spoonley, and no doubt many others still remain hidden below the soil.

By permission of tho Council of the Royal United Service Institution I exhibit a small MS. entitled Ensignes, Trayned Bands, and Auxiliaries, 1642. It is bound in white vellum, and at one time had strings or laces for keeping it closed. Both covers have a simple tooled and gilt double line round the edge, and in the centre a curious figure drawn in ink. It represents a sort of satyr with a tail and feet like a dragon. The front of his body is covered by an oval shield bearing the arms of the city of London in red ink. The figure holds in his hands on each side of the shield a cornucopiae, out of which rise the heads of several serpents.

St. Paul's Cathedral was, as might be expected from its position and influence, unusually rich in obits and in chantries. From the foundation of the chantry of master John de London, early in the reign of Henry II., to that of Robert Brocket, citizen and baker, in the twenty-fourth year of Henry VIII., a continuous stream of benefactors appears amongst the records of the cathedral, who desired to express their piety by the endowment of chantries for their own souls and for the souls of members of their families.

Scattered up and down England in museums, churches, and private collections, are a number of small sculptured tablets or panels of alabaster, of which the principal feature is a head lying on a dish or charger, generally flanked by figures of saints and sometimes with other accessories.

These tablets have been more or less a puzzle to antiquaries for a long time, and various conjectures have been put forward as to the meaning of the subjects represented.

Having for some time been collecting evidence on the use of these terms, I think it may be acceptable to our Society to have the results brought before them in a systematic form, and the more so, because we find what I cannot but regard as mistakes on the subject, not only made but defended, in quarters where we should least of all expect anything of the kind. I think I am able to show conclusively that, except during the last half-century, the terms “pastoral staff” and “crosier” have all but invariably been applied to the same thing, namely a bishop's crook, and that the term “crosier” was scarcely ever applied to an archbishop's cross until about 1826. About ten years later, the new nomenclature all at once manifested extraordinary vitality, and was regarded by Anglican ecclesiologists as strictly “correct.” We find it even in the writings of Blore, M. H. Bloxam, J. H. Parker, the younger Pugin, Dr. Hook, Webb, Haines, Boutell, Browne of York, Lee, Blunt, Shipley, Marriott, Mackenzie Walcott, Mrs. Jameson, and Fairholt, also in several dictionaries, though not in that of Skeat. Roman Catholic writers of the old school, unaffected by the Anglican eccelsiological revival, such as Bishop Milner, used the terms in the old English way.

The figure on which I am about to offer some remarks, is one of eighteen basreliefs on the piers supporting the arch leading into the chapel of S. Gaudenzio, in the cathedral church of Rimini. All the subjects represented are worthy of some notice, but this, being an unique symbolism of music, specially commended itself to me. I made a drawing of it under somewhat difficult circumstances, and it is my intention to set before you, if possible, the motives which influenced the artist in its design. These are evidently of classic origin and the suggestions of a scholar. Now, very few artists of the period of the early Renaissance had any claim to be so called. Their education began in the studio (bottega), and they entered at so early an age that there was little time for the humanities. We have it on record by Vasari how some, Botticelli for instance, cared nothing for school learning, yet there are works in the Uffizi by this artist full of classic knowledge, and, to my mind, the most interesting of his productions. In fact, the artist worked under the instruction of the clergy, as regards his treatment of ecclesiastical subjects; it was dangerous to travel too much out of the circle, for a charge of heresy might ensue, which was really suggested against poor Botticelli, one certainly as innocent of theology, except that taught him, as he was of Horace or Virgil. We possess a painting of his in our National Gallery, mentioned by Vasari in connection with the cleric's name who suggested its treatment. It is very orthodox in its elements.

It may be of interest to the Society if I submit to its notice some observations made last year, which render it necessary to re-write the history of one of the best known monuments of Rome.

The monument, which for fifty-six years has been called the Column of Phocas, was formerly, when nothing but the pillar itself was seen above ground, the subject of much curiosity and speculation among the visitors of the Forum. The “nameless column with the buried base” was thought by some to be the sole relic of a great temple or other public building. By others it had been conjectured to be part of the famous bridge by which Caligula united his palace on the Palatine with the temple of Capitoline Jupiter. In the early years of the century, among other works of the same kind, it was resolved to clear away the soil and débris from the substructure of this column; and on the 13th of March, 1813, the inscription of its pedestal, which had remained for centuries a few feet below the level of the ground, was uncovered, and revealed the fact that it had supported a statue dedicated by the exarch Smaragdus to the honour of a Caesar, whose name had been erased, but who, by other indications, could be no other than Phocas, an emperor of evil reputation, but to whom Rome and the world owe some gratitude for having been instrumental in dedicating the Pantheon to Christian worship, and so preserving from ruin one of the noblest and most original architectural works of antiquity.

On the 27th February last we had the honour of laying before the Society a communication on the desirability of the complete and systematic excavation of the site of Silchester.

The scheme therein set forth, which had already been sanctioned by the Duke of Wellington, the owner, and by Mr. Cooper, the tenant, met with the cordial support and approval of the Fellows present, and it was unanimously referred to the Council to consider the steps necessary for carrying it out.