and Saxon-from Crausley, Irchester, Twywell, and Islip.

March 16.-The Earl of Carnarvon, President, in the Chair.-The Chevalier de Reichel exhibited a portion of the Hasselman collection of illuminated initial letters, which had been cut out of MSS. and books-a barbarous proceeding, now, we trust, no longer in vogue; also a Book of Hours, by Kerver (date circa 1505), and a service book of Compline.Mr. J. Evans exhibited a gold ring found in Sussex, and bearing the following inscription in relief (St. John xviii. 8): "Ci ergo me queritis cinite eos baute [sic]." The last word Mr. Evans considered to be probably intended for the "abire" of the Vulgate. Was the inscription selected as a charm ?-Mr. D. G. C. Elwes exhibited a small oval bronze seal of the fourteenth century, found near St. John's Church, Bedford. It bore the Agnus Dei, with the usual inscription. Mr. G. L. Gower exhibited an urn and a small armilla, with exquisitely delicate patina, found at Godstone, Surrey.-Mr. J. D. Leader communicated an account of a careful restoration now being carried on in the Shrewsbury Chapel in St. Peter's Church, Sheffield, on the tomb of George Talbot, fourth Earl of Shrewsbury.-Mr. R. S. Ferguson exhibited four cups or chalices from the north of England.-Mr. J. Parker communicated an account of the Hospital of St. John the Baptist, at Chipping Wycombe, together with illustrations of the existing Norman remains. These remains are threatened with destruction.

March 22.-Mr. A. W. Franks, V.-P., in the Chair. -Mr. C. R. B. King presented two lithographs from drawings made by him of the crypt of the ancient Priory Church of St. John at Clerkenwell.-Mr. R. P. Greg communicated a Paper "On the Origin and Meaning of the Fylfot or Suastika," with the object of showing that it was a religious symbol among the earlier Aryan races, and was intended by them in the first instance to represent, in a cruciform, an ideograph or symbol suggested by the forked lightning, and well shown by our letter Z, two of which crossing one another in the middle admirably represent, the ordinary device known by the names of the gammadion, croix-pattée, fylfot, and

suastika.

British Archæological Association.-March 15. Mr. T. Morgan in the Chair.-Mr. L. Brock described the remains of Old Ludgate which have been recently brought to light by the setting back of the houses on Ludgate Hill. A portion of the east wall is visible opposite the front of St. Martin's, Ludgate. Sir Talbot Baker sent for exhibition two archaic-looking objects of terra-cotta found near Weymouth, which were pronounced to be grinders, most probably for corn.-Mr. C. Brent gave further particulars of the Roman villa at Methwold.--An elaborate Paper on the cup and ring markings on stones at Ilkley, by Mr. J. R. Allen, was read, in the absence of the author, by Mr. W. de Gray Birch. These markings are found on many of the moorstones, one of the most curious of the groups being on the "Pancake" Rock, on Rumbold's Moor, a high ridge 1,010 feet above the sea-level. Mr. J. Brent suggested that the markings were plans of tribal interments, while it was suggested by the Chairman that they were plans of the tribal settlements themselves. Mr.

VOL. V.

Loftus Brock pointed out, in support of this latter view, their resemblance to plans of dwelling-places on Dartmoor figured by Sir Gardner Wilkinson. Several of the speakers referred the continuance of these markings to a comparatively late date, a stone similarly marked having been found within a dwelling at Birtley, with a coin of Valentinian and an iron sword, while other markings are found on the walls of brick churches in Germany.-The second Paper was by the Rev. Dr. Hooppell, on an early church at North Gosforth, near Newcastle-on-Tyne. This is a ruined building, but the plan is perfect, showing a small nave with a square-ended chancel and a very small chancel arch, the whole being of small dimensions. The walls are constructed entirely of stones from some Roman building, and are surrounded externally by a chamfered plinth. The date appears to be late Saxon.

Anthropological Institute.-March 7.-MajorGen. Pitt-Rivers, President, in the Chair.-Mr. E. T. Newton exhibited a Romano-British burial urn, containing human bones, found in Cheapside, about eighteen feet below the footpath, in 1879. Two of the bones are encrusted by molten green glass.-Mr. E. H. Mann read the first part of a monograph on the aboriginal inhabitants of the Andaman Islands. The latter portion of the Paper was devoted to a description of the tribal communities and the peculiarities connected with the subdivision of the same among inland and coast men; and reference was made to the system of rule and the power of the chiefs, and various details connected with manners and customs were illustrated.

March 21.-Major-General Pitt-Rivers, President, in the Chair.-Mr. W. G. Smith exhibited a measured transverse section through 300 feet of the Paleolithic floor of the Hackney Brook, near Stoke Newington Common. He also showed a collection of ovatoacuminate implements, scrapers, flakes, and nuclei from the same spot, all the objects being lustrous and as sharp as on the day they were made.-General Pitt-Rivers exhibited and described a large collection of padlocks, showing that the same type had been used in all civilized countries from the earliest ages. -Mr. A. L. Lewis read a Paper "On the Relation of Stone Circles to Outlying Stones or Tumuli or Neighbouring Hills."-A Paper was read by Mr. J. E. Price "On Excavations of Tumuli on the Brading Downs, Isle of Wight," by himself and Mr. F. G. H. Price.

Numismatic.-March 16.-Dr. J. Evans, President, in the Chair.-Mr. H. Montagu exhibited some half-crowns of Edward VI. and crowns of Charles I. and Cromwell in remarkably fine preservation; also a counterfeit sterling struck by John of Hainault, found at Worsted, in Norfolk.-Mr. Evans read a Paper on a hoard of early Anglo-Saxon coins found near Delgany, co. Wicklow, in 1874, consisting of silver pennies of Eadbearht, Cuthred, and Baldred, kings of Kent, A.D. 794-823; of Offa, Coenwulf, Ceolwulf, and Beornwulf, kings of Mercia, 757-824; of Egbert, sole monarch; of various Archbishops of Canterbury; and of one coin of Pope Leo III., 795-816. The writer remarked that this was the most essentially Kentish hoard of which we have any record, a large proportion even of the coins of the kings of Mercia

Q

bearing evidence of having been minted at Canterbury. With regard to the question how these Kentish coins found their way to Ireland, Mr. Evans said that in all probability they formed part of the spoil of a band of marauding Danes, who, after ravaging the Isle of Sheppey in the year 832, transported their plunder to Ireland. “Danes, pagans, or heathens," are said to have first settled in Ireland in 795, and by 853 they had already founded royal dynasties in Dublin, Waterford, and Limerick. The fact that hardly any AngloSaxon coins of this early date have been found in Scandinavia, whereas in Ireland they are of frequent occurrence, led Mr. Evans to infer that most of the early Danish invasions of Britain, including this one of the Isle of Sheppey, were made by Western Danes from their Irish settlements, this view being_corroborated by the circumstance that these early Danish expeditions were mostly directed against the western and southern coasts of Britain, and not against the eastern or northern.-Mrs. Bagnall-Oakeley communicated a Paper on the hoards of Roman coins which have been from time to time discovered in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, chiefly in the vicinity of ancient iron mines, the coins having been, perhaps, intended for the payment of the miners' wages.-Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole communicated a letter which he had received from M. H. Sauvaire on some rare or inedited Oriental coins in the collection of M. Ch. de l'Ecluse.

Royal Society of Literature.—March 22.—Sir Patrick de Colquhoun in the Chair.-Mr. R. N. Cust read a Paper "On Athens and Attica," in which he gave in detail an account of the remarkable ruins still to be seen.

New Shakspere. March 10. Mr. F. J. Furnivall, Director, in the Chair.-A Paper by Mr. W. G. Stone was read, "On As You Like It compared with its Origin, Lodge's Novel of Rosalind." -Dr. Bayne read Notes upon some recent characterizations of Shakspere's heroines by Mr. Ruskin.

Historical.-March 16.-Mr. J. Heywood in the Chair. The following Papers were read: "The English Acquisition and Loss of Dunkirk," by the Rev. S. A. Swaine; and "The Emperor Frederick II. of the House of Hohenstaufen," by the Rev. Canon Pennington.

Philological Society.-March 3.-Mr. A. J. Ellis, President, in the Chair.-The Paper read was "Old-English Contributions," by Mr. H. Sweet. The Paper dealt chiefly with the influence of stress in Old-English sound-changes.

March 17.-Mr. A. J. Ellis, President, in the Chair. -Dr. J. A. H. Murray explained the system on which he proposed to mark the pronunciation of the catch. words in the Society's English Dictionary.

Royal Asiatic Society.-March 20.-Sir E. Colebrooke, M.P., President, in the Chair.-Dr. R. G. Latham read a Paper on "The Date and Personality of Priyadarsi."-Mr. Arthur Lillie read a Paper on 66 Buddhist Saint-worship."

PROVINCIAL.

Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.-March 13.-The Right Hon. the Earl of Stair, Vice-President, in the Chair.-The first Paper read was a notice

of the Court-book of the barony of Cunningsburgh, Shetland, with a statement of its contents, by G. Hunter Thoms. The record begins in 1731. The offences were mostly infringements of mutual rights, but there was one criminal case, and in it the judge gave his decision on the oath of the accused person. Sheriff Thoms regarded this Court as a Barony Court, although he had not seen the titles of the barony; and he thought that there were indications in the record that it was analogous to the records of other Barony Courts in Scotland. Mr. Goudie said that he was inclined to regard this as the record of a Parochial Court, the constitution of which was peculiar to Orkney and Shetland, and he adduced arguments from other documents to show that the parish bailie was the Foud of the old Scandinavian Law Courts. -The second Paper was a description of the ecclesiastical remains existing on St. Serf's Island, Lochleven, as they were disclosed by the excavations conducted some years ago under the direction of Dr. Alexander Laing, Mr. Burns Begg, and Mr. David Marshall, Fellows of the Society. Mr. Kerr described the results of the excavations, which disclosed some features of the buildings connected with the priory that were previously unknown. He exhibited drawings of the ancient church of St. Serf, which was now shown to consist of nave and chancel, the masonry indicating a very early date, probably as early as the eleventh century.-The next Paper was a notice of a dispensation for the marriage of Johanna Beaufort, the Queen Dowager of James I. of Scotland, with the Black Knight of Lorn, by Mr. Joseph Bain. Mr. Bain gave the text of the dispensation from a transcript from the Vatican archives in a collection deposited about forty years ago in the British Museum. The Papal scribe had miswritten the Queen's name, and though the document is printed by Andrew Stuart, he had failed to recognize it. Riddle also refers to it in his Stewartiana, but without any recognition of its being the dispensation for the Queen's second marriage. The last Paper was a notice of some early remains in the Black Isle, Rossshire, illustrated with scale drawings and ground plans by Mr. Angus J. Beaton. The author first described a cist discovered in August last at Braes of Kilcoy, which contained a burial in the usual contracted position, but no object of human workmanship. He then gave a general view of the antiquities of the Black Isle, among which the stone circle, called Carn Inernan, was carefully described and figured, and several large cairns and smaller tumuli were noticed, the paper concluding with some references to the castles and other places of interest in the district, which is one well worthy of the special attention of archæologists.

pre

April 10.-R. W. Cochran-Patrick, M.P., VicePresident, in the Chair.-The first Paper read was entitled "A Notice of Ancient Legal Documents served among the Public Records of Shetland," by Mr. Gilbert Goudie. The documents submitted were selected from a large collection of writs now preserved in the County Court Buildings in Lerwick, from 1491 to 1588. A deed of 1546 was stated to be a Shuynd Bill, the Scandinavian form of serving heirs or settling a succession to heritable or personal property before the Head Foud and his assessors in open court.

Another furnished an illustration of a native law or custom termed Upgestry, whereby a person in reduced circumstances became upgester to another, who became bound to maintain him or her for the rest of their natural life, receiving therefore a clear title to the lands and property of the person so maintained.—The next Paper gave the results of a chemical investigation into the composition of the substances known as bog butters, adipocere, and the mineral resins, with a notice of a cask of bog butter found in Glen Gell, Morvern, Argyleshire, and now in the Museum, by W. Ivison Macadam.-The next Paper was a notice of a deed signed by Lady Margaret Douglas of Lochleven, which was exhibited by Mr. Charles Henderson. The deed was a procuratory of resignation in favour of Mr. George Learmonth of Balquhomie, in 1560. In it she styles herself Margaret Erskine, Lady of Lochleven, and widow of Sir Robert Douglas. As was well known, she was the mother of the Regent Murray, who is also mentioned in the document.Mr. R. Scott Skirving contributed a notice of a flat bronze celt and a perforated stone implement found at Camptown, East-Lothian, which he now presented to the Museum; and a notice was given of a volume of the records of a farming society in Forfarshire, founded by Mr. George Dempster of Dunnichen in 1803, under the title of "The Lunan and Vinney Water Farming Society."-There were exhibited a brass matrix of a seal with a shield of arms resembling those of the Sutherlands of Duffus, and probably of the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries, found at Lerwick; some portions of red deer horns of great size found in digging a grave at Culross Abbey; also a collection plate of brass or latten, bearing an embossed representation of the Annunciation, with an inscription in Dutch, by the kirk-session of Maybole, through Dr. Macdonald of Ayr Academy; and a hoard of gold and silver coins, the gold being of the reigns of James I., II, and III., and the silver chiefly of Henry V. and VI., and Edward IV. of England, with a few groats of Robert III. of Scotland, found by a shepherd at Over Black Craigs, near New Cumnock, Ayrshire.

Cambridge Antiquarian Society.-March 1. -The Society visited the ancient town of St. Ives, Hunts. On arriving at the church, Mr. W. M. Fawcett proceeded to give some explanation of the building. The ancient name of the town was Slepe, and it is so called in Domesday - but the present name, S. Ives, is derived from S. Ivo, who is called in Camden's Britannia a Persian Archbishop. S. Ivo travelled in this part of the country about the year 600 A. D., and is supposed to have died in this spot. The Abbey of Ramsey had the greater part of the land in this parish bequeathed to it soon after the reign of King Edgar, and the Monks having discovered the bones of S. Ivo conveyed them with much solemnity to Ramsey, and founded a cell on the site of the discovery. In the year 1007 the Abbot Ednoth built a church. Of this church no remains whatever are to be seen, though it is probable that, if any alterations should be made, stones of this old church might be found built in as walling stones to the more recent church. In 1207 the church was burnt; it was, however, soon rebuilt, and continued to be connected with the Abbey of Ramsey until the Disso

lution. Of this church, built, in 1207, we find a few very interesting remains. The first is the east end of the south aisle, the whole wall with its fine window and the small piece on the south containing the aumbry and a beautiful piscina. The second is the respond and springing of the arch at the north-west corner of the nave. These two portions show that that church was approximately of the same size as the present one. The south aisle was the same length and width, and the arcades were of the same length; a north aisle evidently existed, and may be supposed to have been fairly in conformity with the south. The tower may have been elsewhere, and the chancel may have been longer or shorter, but approximately the church was evidently on the lines of the present one. The font also appears to be the remains of the one belonging to this early church, though it has been very much cut about, so that its original detail is quite obliterated-and there are a few other minor remains. We have no documentary evidence of the construction of the present building. It is evidently one of the latter part of the fifteenth century, but what caused the almost total destruction of the older church is quite unknown. The arcade of the present church is a very clear type of the date named, the columns being very narrow from east to west, and in fact very much the proportion of a window mullion. There is a very interesting peculiarity in these-viz., the brackets that remain for the images, two on the west side of each of the columns, except the north-eastern column. These brackets are not uncommonly found in different parts of churches, but to find such a number, so regularly built to the columns, is a very unusual feature. It may be accounted for partly by the church being served from the Abbey of Ramsey, and being also an important place, and not a very great distance from the Abbey. One of the columns has another bracket of a different character inserted below the one just referred to. It is not sufficiently far below to give height for a second figure, and Mr. Fawcett suggested that from its size and position it had most probably been used to support a reliquary containing some relique of the saint, whose image was on the bracket above. The chancel roof is of the same date as the main body of church, but it is hard to suppose that the flat ceiled roof of the nave is not much later. There was a fire in 1639, which destroyed a great part of S. Ives, and it is possible that some damage was then done to the church, and the roof may be of that date: but as he had not examined it excepting from where they were standing, he could not give any positive statement about it. The beautiful spire at the west end has had a struggle for existence, for it is stated by Camden to have been twice blown down, and at some time more recent it was damaged (it is supposed by lightning), so that a year or two ago it seemed likely to fall again, if a strong wind tried it. The inhabitants therefore thought it best to take it down and rebuild it, and all could see how carefully this had been done. Vicar (the Rev. C. D. Goldie) drew special attention to the very beautiful piscina in the aisle. He mentioned that when it was restored some sixteen years ago, some workman thinking to improve and sharpen the cutting of the dogtooth moulding had very much damaged it. Among things worthy of note in the church was the old register, which dated from the middle of the six

The

teenth century, and contained the autograph of Oliver Cromwell, which he should be happy to show to any one who felt an interest in it. The party then went to the house of Mr. Sherringham opposite Bridge Street, the roof of which is of fifteenth century work, and has a king-post with cap and base and branching braces. There is also some very good and valuable seventeenth century panelling. The bay window projecting over the pavements is also an interesting feature. The house adjoining the bridge, occupied by Mr. Wadsworth, was then visited, and other ancient panelwork much admired. The party then went to see the small chapel (now used as a cottage) on the bridge. The form with its apsidal east end is very clear, but the windows have all been built up, and in the early part of the eighteenth century two storeys were added, and it was made into a cottage. It has been completely changed in the interior so that nothing old is visible-but the exterior is very interesting, as there are but few of these bridge chapels left in the country.

March 13.-The Rev. R. Burn, M.A., President, in the Chair.-Mr. Marshall Fisher exhibited and described a vase of red terra-cotta, 6 in. high, together with other Roman pottery in fragments, and horse bones, from Downham Field, about a mile and a half to the north of Ely Cathedral. The vase was discovered about 18 inches below the surface.-Professor Hughes described some fragments of Roman pottery_and other objects exhibited by Mr. W.W. Cordeaux. They had been found at the depth of three feet in Humber deposit, at Great Cotes, in North-east Lincolnshire. Along with the pottery were sawn bones, pieces of glass, and some very curious tube-like formations in considerable masses, which Professor Hughes explained to have been produced by concretionary action around roots of plants, also shells of the common cockle. The field, known by the name of the "Little Nooks Close," adjoins the bank of a very old drain, called the "Old Fleet," which formerly, as now, received the drainage of some portion of the Lincolnshire Wolds.-Mr. Reade read a Paper "On the Minster-Church at Aachen." The Church was, in historical interest, quite unrivalled by any building north of the Alps, and as an architectural landmark stood alone, having been completed in the year 804. There is no doubt that it was largely the work of Italian artists. The architect was probably Ansigis, Abbot of Fontenelle, near Rouen. In general design it bears a considerable resemblance to St. Sepulchre's Church, Cambridge, which was built 300 years later. The whole of the interior was covered with mosaics, which were destroyed in the great fire of 1656. Reade exhibited an interesting engraving made before the fire, and showing the then disposition of the exterior. The tall fourteenth century choir was added by the Burgomaster, Gerhard Chorus, and is a work of great lightness and bold design. The octagon is surrounded by small chapels, and Mr. Reade gave detailed information as to the original destination of these. He also exhibited "restorations" of the original work, and some of the original mosaic cubes used by Charlemagne's artists. The bronze doors and railings to the triforium were at least as old as the building itself. The Church was formerly connected with the palace by a vaulted arcade. The great Emperor, Karl, who founded the Church, was buried

Mr.

within its precincts, but the precise spot was unknown. His bones were exhumed 352 years after his death. Much of the furniture of the Cathedral is of extraordinary interest, particularly the marble throne, upon which thirty-seven emperors were installed; the pulpit, which was a gift of Henry II., and is one mass of gold, jewels, and antique ivory carvings; and the corona, given by Frederic Barbarossa, which is richly gilded and enamelled.

March 20.-The Rev. R. Burn, M.A., President, in the Chair. - Mr. J. Willis Clark delivered a lecture on "The Description and History of the Site of Trinity College." The whole site was bounded on the east by what used to be called High Street, but is now Trinity Street. On the north was St. John's College, which always occupied precisely the same amount of site, with the exception of one little piece. The south boundary of the College was originally called Michael Lane, but is now known as Trinity Lane. Trinity Hall abutted upon what was originally known as Milne Street, a street which extended right across the site of King's College into Silver Street. A fragment of Milne Street still remained in Queens' Street, and a theory had been started that it once ran right across to Bridge Street, but this was mere conjecture. On the west the site was bounded, not by the river, but by a ditch which, with the river, enclosed what was then known as Garyte Hostel Green, now forming part of the College walks. The site was divided longitudinally by a lane running from near the present great gates in the direction of the river. This lane was known as King's Tudor Lane, and was crossed at right angles by Fouls Lane, which ran into Trinity Lane, or St. Michael's Lane as it was then called, at a point where the present Queens' Gate is situated. Mr. Clark then proceeded to give in detail the acquisitions made from time to time for the accommodation of the scholars.

Newcastle Society of Antiquaries.—March 29. -Mr. Dunn in the Chair.-Mr. C. C. Hodges read a Paper on Hexham. The air of mystery and uncertainty which unfortunately surrounds the Roman origin of Hexham renders it most desirable that some further researches should be made beneath the surface in such places as are upon the probable site of the Roman town, and as yet unencumbered with buildings. Most antiquaries agree as to the Roman origin of the place. Previous to the year 1726, when the crypt of St. Wilfrid's Cathedral at Hexham was discovered when digging the foundations for a buttress to support the north-west angle of the tower of the Abbey Church, no Roman remains were known to exist at Hexham. The discovery of this interesting and almost unique example of Saxon architecture, which is wholly built of Roman stones, led the antiquaries of the day to speculate as to the Roman name of Hexham, and Axelodunum was fixed upon by Horsley. Stukely and Gale examined the crypt in 1726, and, in addition to the remains now to be seen, saw there an altar dedicated by Quintus Calpurinus Concessinus, which is now unfortunately lost. There are now in the crypt two inscribed slabs, a portion of the capital of a flat pilaster with acanthus foliage, six fragments of fluted pilasters of varying sections, stones with the "cyma reversa" moulding, several lengths of an ornamental cornice, decorated

with a line of laurel leaves, placed point to point diagonally (the triangular spaces thus formed being filled with a bead or pellet); and lastly, a large number of stones ornamented with many varieties of broaching, of unusual richness and diversity. Besides the fragments built into the crypt, there are two altars in the church, one of which was found in 1870 on the west side of the tower. A third altar, cut into two or more pieces, is built into the head of the newel stair at the north-west angle of the tower, about 3 feet above the level of the gutter of the north transept roof; it is only partially visible owing to the greater portion being imbedded in the walls; and there is no trace of an inscription to be seen, but the emblems of sacrifice-the ox's head, the slaying knife, the garland, and the vase-are clearly discernible. A stone of probably Roman workmanship consisting of a rectangular panel 21 by 25 inches, and enclosing what may be described as a wheel ornament, is laid in the north bay of the south transept triforium. The monumental slab found in the slype in September last, completes the list of specimens of Roman work in the church. A piece of an inscribed stone was built into the gable of one of the houses, which formerly stood on the south-east of the church, another was found on the east side of the Seal, and a third was taken from the wall of an out-house adjoining the Hermitage, close to Hexham, on the north side of the Tyne. A few stones with broached tooling are to be seen in the walls of some of the older houses in the town, and in the wall which bounds the east side of the Cow Garth. A few Roman coins have been dug up in Hexham not many yards from the church. To finally settle the question as to whether the Romans really occupied the site, and to rebut the theory that all the stones of Roman workmanship were brought from the neighbouring station of Corstopitum, it is greatly to be desired that we should find masonry of undoubted Roman date in situ, or some inscription which would enable us to identify Hexham with one of the stations mentioned in the "Notitia Imperii." We see that the buildings of the time of St. Wilfrid were, in all probability, entirely erected with Roman stones, and from the fact that Roman stones also occur, as has been shown above, in the buildings of the Middle Ages, we may infer that the same quarry of ready squared stones was not exhausted in the thirteenth century, when the present church was brought to a more or less complete state. The large tomb of Flavinus was discovered in a foundation which may be of Saxon date, but is more probably not earlier than C. 1200 A.D.; and in the foundations of the destroyed and ruined conventual buildings, we may reasonably expect to find Roman stones, for, as the Saxon buildings grew up out of the ruins of their Roman predecessors, so also did those of the Middle Ages grow up out of the ruins of those of Saxon date, and the Roman stones which had been used in the erection of the former would most certainly in many cases be used again in the erection of the latter. The destroyed conventual buildings are the chapter-house and the calefactory on the eastern, and the refectory and kitchen on the southern side of the cloisters. With regard to the still more to be desired discovery of Roman foundations in situ, it may be stated that the vacant places—the cloister garth, the plot to the

south-east of the church, and a piece of ground on the other side of Beaumont Street-are all available for purposes of exploration, and all are within the boundary wall of the precincts of the Abbey; and we may therefore reasonably assume that they are also within or immediately upon the boundary of the Roman town or station. The heart of the Roman town would become the heart of the medieval town. The Rev. Canon Greenwell said he confessed to be somewhat sceptic of the Roman origin of Hexham, and if some explorations were made this question might possibly be set at rest. The Rev. Dr. Bruce thought Hexham had been a Roman position, first of all because of the importance of the position. The last time the Society visited Hexham, Mr. Fairless, who acted as their guide, told them that some ordinary Roman flue tiles, for the purpose of conveying water, had been found in situ. It was resolved that, if the consent of the owners and occupiers can be obtained, a sum not exceeding 10 be placed at the disposal of Mr. Hodges for explorations at Hexham.-The Rev. Dr. Bruce said that a quarter of a century ago, the Duke of Northumberland, patron of the Society, suggested the propriety of gathering together all the Northumbrian ballads and melodies they could, and a committee was formed, and they laboured hard and long. Mr. Kell, Mr. White, and others made collections, but members were one after another suddenly carried off, and the result of their labours had been buried in a box. A little while ago, the Society resolved to print the ballads and tunes. The Melodies Committee, during the earlier period of their existence, invoked the aid of Mr. Stokoe of South Shields, who had an intimate knowledge of the local airs and melodies; and Mr. Stokoe had been associated with himself in preparing the book for publication, under the auspices of the Society. The whole of it was in type, and would probably be laid upon the table at the next meeting. The first part of the book comprised ballads and songs, and he suggested that an extra number of copies of the second part of the book, comprising local tunes, and suitable for pipers and others, be printed for sale, and that might tend to resuscitate our native music.

Andover Archæological Society.-March 13.— An address was delivered by the President, the Rev. C. Collier, on "Archæological Discoveries in and about the New Andover and Marlborough Railway." Mr. Collier said that at the point where the railway intersected Redenham Park there had been found the ruins of a number of pit-dwellings, in one of which was a skeleton. Near the park gates was a Roman "rubbish pit," and near the same spot they had discovered a smooth Celtic stone axe, skulls of the red deer and horse, with a quantity of other bones, and a number of flints and pieces of charred wood. Remains of Roman and other pottery had also been plentifully found.

Glasgow Archæological Society.-March 16. ---Professor Lindsay, D.D., Vice-President, in the Chair.-Mr. R. Rowand Anderson read a Paper upon "Paisley Abbey and its Cloister," and exhibited illustrative drawings and photographs. Mr. Anderson commented severely upon the destruction of the cloister and domestic buildings of the Abbey, which were probably unique in Scotland. He pointed out