we have the regular type of the Abraxas-god, flourishing his whip to scare away evil spirits, and protruding his shield as symbol of protection. The inscription EVO has been read as Syriac for "The Serpent": the others have not been previously observed in this connexion, and offer a problem to the ingenuity of Semitic scholars. The union of Chnuphis with Abraxas is a novelty, the former having almost invariably for reverse (as on the jade already quoted) the triple S on a bar-probably representing the serpent-twined wand of the priesthood. The earliest record that can be found of the pictorial representation of the Evil One, in the shape of a serpent, is that by Eusebius'. "Moreover he [Constantine] set up a picture over the grand entrance of the Palace, displaying the Cross, that lifegiving symbol, placed above his own head; whilst below him the adversary and enemy of mankind, who through the agency of impious tyrants had vexed the Church of Christ, was being cast down headlong in the figure of a serpent. For the divine oracles, in the books of the Prophets, have called him a dragon and a fuming serpent." We may still see the same idea embodied on that invaluable little coin (fig. 10) of the younger 1 Vita Constantini, III. 3. VOL. V. C. A. S. Comm. 7 Constantine, which shows the serpent transfixed by the spear of the labarum, the "Trophy of the Cross," as Eusebius aptly terms it, with the explanatory legend SPES PUBLICA. It is full time now to return to the symbolism of the gem, the proper subject of these remarks. Instead of the actual serpent of Constantine's painting, the Fiend is made to recall the classical figure of the Hydra. If there be any truth in the general opinion that Maximian intended, when he put on his coins a Hercules slaying the Hydra (as well as Jove throwing his bolts at the Titans), to commemorate his own efforts for the extirpation of Christianity, the adaptation of the type by our engraver was literally a "turning of his own cannon upon the enemy." The aureus of Maximian (fig. 11) preserves to us the latest representation of the Hydra produced by ancient art. It is a coin of singular beauty, and considering the lateness of the period, a perfect miracle of workmanship. But the masterly treatment of the group, and still more the compactness (so evidently aimed at in its composition) with which Hercules is shown lifting the monster from the ground by one of its many necks, whilst it clings tenaciously to his body with its snaky folds, prove unmistakeably that the die-sinker had in view some bronze of the same subject coming down from the best period of Grecian art. It is instructive to compare this, the latest, with the very earliest representation of this "Labour" on the coin of Phaistos alluded to on page 82; in which the looser arrangement of the figures, and the pictorial effect, which is so evidently kept in view (a most unusual thing in Greek coinage), equally declare that its engraver drew his inspiration from some celebrated painting of his times: a circumstance which critics have already noticed with respect to another fine production of the Cretan school, the Europa seated in a tree upon a coin of Gnossos. To trace the Hydra down to its final extinction as a type; it may be added that the Byzantines combined it with the Gorgon (that most ancient of amulets, even put up by the Cyclops on the citadel of Argos) by surrounding her head with seven asps radiating from it round about. Gems and brass tesserae thus engraved are extant in abundance. The reverse always bears a legend in barbarous phonetic Greek to this effect': "Black, blackened Fate [or other evil] thou creepest like a serpent, thou roarest like a lion, thou shalt lie down like a little lamb." The most perfect specimen known to me is that figured by Chiflet'; the most curious, as being undoubtedly a Gothic work, is the so-called seal of St Servatius, still preserved in Maestricht Cathedral. It is a large circular disk of green jasper, bearing on one side a rude bust of a saint, on the other the Hydra-Gorgon, with the regular inscription, but so disfigured by the ignorant copyist that only a word here and there can be recognised. [The illustrations throughout this Communication are from antique originals in the cabinet of the Rev. S. S. Lewis.] 1 YCTEPA MEλANH MEλANOMENH OC OOIC HAHCE K, OC AEONBрYɣace KE OC AрNION KYMOY. They takes the place of o as early as A.D. 842, in the title of Theodora Despuna. 2 "Macarii Apistapistus," No. 70 of the plate. 3 Handbook of Engraved Gems, p. 112. IX. ON THE MEASUREMENTS AND VALUATIONS OF THE DOMESDAY OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. Communicated by the Rev. BRYAN WALKER, LL.D., Corpus Christi College. [November 28, 1881.] IN the winter session at the end of A.D. 1083 King William laid a tax of 72 pence on every hide of land in the kingdom, in order to raise forces to oppose the threatened invasion of Canute of Denmark. This tax was collected in A.D. 1084, and was levied, without doubt, according to the assessment for a Danegeld made in A.D. 1013. But the changes due to mere operation of time, aggravated by the devastation of the Danish wars and the mischief caused by the numerous revolts against the Conqueror's rule, had deranged the accuracy of the rating; and the levying of the Danegeld in A.D. 1084 caused deep and wellfounded discontent. To ascertain the actual resources of the realm, with a view, most probably, to readjustment of taxation, the famous Commissioners were sent into the country, which seems to have been divided amongst them into nine circuits. According to Eyton, whose opinion is supported by other authorities, the circuits were as follows: Circuit I. Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, the Isle of II. Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, Devonshire, Cornwall: III. Middlesex, Herts, Bucks: |