Of the great Murrains of the Middle Ages, we know little or nothing; the statements of the chroniclers about them are so meagre and vague, that we get but few facts except the dates of the years in which they occurred, and even in that particular the Chronicles are not always correct. Under such circumstances, I felt it my duty, when some original information relative to a Murrain in the Fourteenth Century came under my notice, to take some little trouble in selecting, and arranging the materials in order to place them before the Society. The additional knowledge of these visitations, thus obtained, may not be considerable, but a number of small facts may be of some service, in elucidating the character and effect of them.

The very singular, or rather, as regards Italy, the unique bronze relique that I have now undertaken to describe and explain, I consider to be the same that was discovered January 4th, 1800, at the steep pitch of the hill just below the castle of Lucera. This we learn from an account of the discovery given by the Cavaliere Onofrio Bonghi, quoted by Gerhard.

No one has yet written the history of the Roman palate, such as it became when the successes of that people had given occasion for its artificial cultivation. The Roman, consequently, has never been contemplated on this side of his character. This is not merely an omission in archaeology, it is a blank left in the annals of taste. And the omission is the more remarkable, as most other subjects of antiquity have been fathomed by the learned, down even to the shoe and the caliga.

The doubts which have lately been thrown upon the authenticity of the Paston Letters form a peculiarly appropriate subject for the consideration of the Society of Antiquaries, not merely because historical and antiquarian literature would suffer a grievous loss if the reasonableness of those doubts could be established, but more especially because in the process of their establishment some blame must necessarily fall upon this Society, for having at the time of the original publication allowed itself almost to put the seal of the Society to the genuineness of these important papers.

The authenticity of the Paston Letters having been seriously impugned, it is a duty to give any explanation on so important a question. I would, therefore, beg to state some circumstances which happen to be particularly within my own knowledge.

The five bronze vessels, now exhibited by the kind permission of Vice-Admiral The Honourable Edward Howard, were first recovered in June, 1856, from the spot where they had lain buried probably since the time of the Roman occupation of Britain. A party of drainers, digging immediately behind a farmhouse on Stittenham Hill, belonging to the Castle Howard estate in Yorkshire, came upon these vessels at about three feet below the surface, placed one within another, in a nest or group. The soil, I understand, is boggy, and the metal accordingly has preserved the smooth unpatinated face and brownish hue common with ancient bronzes found in wet localities. The form of all the vessels is the same, and approximates to that of a modern saucepan; but the bowl of each, instead of having vertical sides and a broad fiat bottom, is curved inwards as it descends, like a cup, and the base is ornamented externally with raised concentric rings. Each handle, which is shaped in simple but not ungraceful curves, has a hole for suspending the vessel from a hook or peg. Round the bowl of the largest vessel runs a narrow engraved border of peculiar pattern.

Leverton is a parish in the wapentake of Skirbeck and parts of Holland in the county of Lincoln. The name has usually been thought to be a contraction for Leofric's town, but, as the assertion rests on no better authority than the Pseudo-Ingulph, it may be dismissed without examination. Whatever may have been the origin of the name, it has suffered little distortion or corruption during the course of eight centuries. The Domesday spelling, though not quite the same to the eye, is identical in sound with that of the present day.

The Committee appointed by the Council on the 12th December, 1865, to collate the fifth volume of the Paston Letters with the original manuscripts exhibited to the Society on the 30th November, 1865, by Philip Howard Frere, Esq., beg to report that, in conformity with the directions of the Council, they invited E. A. Bond, Esq., Joseph Burtt, Esq., P. H. Frere, Esq., James Gairdner, Esq., T. D. Hardy, Esq., Sir Frederic Madden, and Herman Merivale, Esq., to act on this Committee. Mr. Gairdner declined the invitation; and Mr. T. D. Hardy found himself unable, from the pressure of other business, to give the necessary attendance; but all the other gentlemen cordially accepted the invitation, and took part in the labours of the Committee.

On Friday the 29th of December the King his Matie sent for the Lieutenant of the Tower, and in his Maties wtdrawing chamber sayed unto hym—

I wold have you to tell yor prisoner that I am sory to see that he continues still to take the wrong course to his owne hurt in this buisines, as he hath don sins the beginning of it.

A Manuscript volume of songs, ballads, and instrumental music, which once belonged to Henry VIII, has recently been brought to light, and it is of interest, not merely for restoring a large number of songs of which no other copies are now known, but also because some among them were written by the King himself, within the first three or four years of his reign. Henry was then so much subject of his own songs, that these are of material assistance in forming a judgment of his early character.

Whilst the progress of Cæsar from the shores of Gaul to the place of his landing in Britain, and his subsequent advance into the interior of the country, are regarded as subjects worthy of the attention of men of the highest eminence in antiquarian and classical science, it may seem somewhat strange that their researches should have stopped there, and that comparatively little consideration has been bestowed on the progress of those military expeditions which ultimately led to the subjugation of the whole of Britain, and its incorporation with the great Roman Empire.

The document which has recently been discovered by James More Molyneux, Esq. F.S.A. amongst the extensive collection of manuscripts at Loseley, containing a complete and authentic report of a message sent by King James I. to the Earl of Somerset on the 29th of December, 1615, is a valuable addition to the four letters printed in the Archæologia, nearly fifty years ago, from the autographs in the same collection. Those letters were written to Sir George More, between the 9th and 24th of May, 1616, just before the trial; and there is another at Lambeth (not an autograph, but I suppose a true copy) addressed to Somerset himself in the preceding October, just before the committal. This new document gives us conclusive evidence as to the relation in which the King stood towards him in the middle stage of the proceedings, about half-way between those dates; and makes the history of it so clear and complete that no room is left for any further doubt about it. It appears therefore to be a fit occasion for collecting and reviewing the whole of the evidence bearing upon that point, of which we have now a great deal, when all is brought properly together; and of a kind too which is entitled not only to consideration but to precedence, as being better evidence than those who first told the story had access to, and such as they would themselves have preferred if they had had it.

It may be agreeable to this society to receive some account of one of the most extensive, if not the most interesting, discoveries of stone implements which has of late years taken place within the United Kingdom. Indeed, so far as the number of objects found is concerned, the discoveries on the shores of Lough Neagh may almost be ranked with those of the prolific caves of the Dordogne, or those of the Pfahlbauten of the Swiss Lakes.

The great aim of history is to hold up the mirror of the past; but this cannot be done without a knowledge of places as well as of persons. Topography not only illustrates, but also corrects, history: Josephus, for instance, speaks of Jerusalem as having contained occasionally 3,000,000 inhabitants; and in the Jewish War he raises up, by the magic stroke of his pen, countless hosts that never were born; but when we come to examine the localities, we see at once that his statements are preposterous, and that we must accept them at an enormous discount. If topography be so essential an ingredient to history, the more important the events, the more necessary the investigation of the places where the scenes were enacted. It is for this reason that so much attention has of late been directed to the topography of Judea, and of Jerusalem in particular. The inquiry as to the latter has perhaps excited the greater interest from the extreme difficulty with which it is attended. Our information, however, is so rapidly accumulating, that candid minds are now fast converging to a central point.

The “Old English,” or Anglo-Saxon, Cemetery at Stowting had not, I believe, been systematically explored until the close of the year 1866; yet its existence was rendered probable by the discovery of antiquities about twenty-two years since, when the road abutting on the ground was lowered by the parish authorities.

A cloud of mystery has long shrouded the Mosque of Omar, and various hypotheses have been put forward for solving the enigma. I am about to propound a novel theory; and, as most persons must long since have formed their own conclusions, I feel that prejudices are to be overcome, and that without any partisans, at least to begin with, on my side, I must necessarily have many opponents. The Society however will, I am sure, indulge me with a patient hearing, while I explain my views: Let me in the first place, for the benefit of the uninitiated, state the question at issue.

The castra of the Littus Saxonicum were nine in number, and are thus catalogued in the Notitia, the military survey made of the Roman empire in the last stage of its existence:

1. Branodunum or Brancaster.

2. Garianonum or Burgh Castle.

3. Regulbium or Reculver.

4. Rutupiæ or Richborough.

5. Dubræ or Dover.

6. Lemanse or Lymne.

7. Anderida or Pevensey.

8. Portus Adurni or Bramber Castle.

9. Othona.

In discussing the subject of the castra I propose to follow the course which my own mind took during the investigation.

I have the honour to lay hefore the Society of Antiquaries copies and translations of some original documents from the archives of Simancas and Venice, relating to the passage of English history which formed the subject of a communication from Mr. Spedding on the 1st of March of the present year, and in doing so I can only regret that they were not before Mr. Spedding at the time when he was drawing up his Paper. In that case they would not merely have been in the hands of one who was most capable of making the best use of them, but they would have fallen into their natural place in the narrative which he prepared. He would have found in them the strongest confirmation of many of his arguments; but, amongst the new facts which would have thus been at his service, he would not have encountered one to necessitate the withdrawal or even the modification of a single statement.

In proposing to give some notice of Staffordshire Clogg Almanacs, it will be fitting to begin with Dr. Robert Plot, the Natural Historian of the county. Not that I intend to follow him in his description of them, which is the fullest and best that has ever appeared. This would be unnecessary. But references and allusions to Plot must be frequent. That the Almanacs bore the name appropriating them to Staffordshire in his day, is evidenced by the title to the fine plate to the History (tab. xxxv.), dedicated to his patron “the worshipfull Elias Ashmole,” which is, “The Clog or Staffordshire Perpetuall Almanack.” There is another proof that they were called Staffordshire Almanacs at an early period, and thus, as it were, restricted to this county, for calling my attention to which I am indebted to A. W. Franks, Esq. the late Director of this Society. One of these calendars, now in the British Museum, belonged to the original collection of Sir Hans Sloane, which was purchased at his death. It is entered in Sir Hans Sloane's own manuscript catalogue, which appears to have been made as curiosities fell into his hands, as “A Runic or Staffordshire Almanack.” The entry occurs towards the middle of the catalogue, and no doubt the Clogg was in the possession of Sir Hans many years before the close of his very lengthened life, in 1753.

Last winter, while at Rome, some sketches in the album of Padre Garrucci, of the Collegio Romano, made me acquainted with the discovery of certain archaic tombs at Palestrina, the ancient Præneste, which appeared to me to be of a very remarkable class.