THE SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY.

AT the meeting of the Society of Biblical Archæology, May 2nd, Mr. Goldschmidt of Copenhagen read a paper on the Egyptian word Ukh or Akhu, Spirit, the Creating Spirit. Mr. Goldschmidt explains the name of Egypt, ALYUTтos, from Ukh-hap-t, that means (in a free translation) the wife, or land, of the Stream-sending Spirit. He further pointed out that the following Greek words are derived from or closely related to Ukh or Akhu-Ogygia, the oldest name of Egypt as also of Attica, Boeotia, Lycia; Ogyogos, the father of the gods; Ogygios, the ancient Theban na me of Dionysos, Bakkhos, lakkhos; Achaia; ixa; xevo; Okeanos-thus explaining the true sense of many Greek myths, tales, and names.

ROYAL INSTITUTION OF CORNWALL. THE Spring Meeting of the members of this Institution was held on May 23rd, at the Museum, Truro. The chair was occupied by Mr. W. J. Henwood, F.R.S., who commenced the proceedings with a lengthened address, chiefly having reference to the natural history and mining of the county. At the conclusion of his address, the Rev. J. R. Cornish, Hon. Sec., read the list of presents to the Institution since the last meeting, which included several valuable contributions both to the library and museum.

A paper contributed by Mr. J. Evans, F.S.A., was then read, on an ancient stone weapon of an unusual type, found in the parish of Pelyrt, and now deposited in the museum of the Institution. Mr. Evans remarked that it seemed to Occupy an intermediate position between the battle-axe and the mace or fighting hammer. The instruments most nearly approaching it were from Scandinavia. It probably belonged to the period when bronze was in use for small weapons.

Mr. Worth, of Plymouth, then read "Notes on some Antiquities in East Cornwall." A British camp on Tokenbury Hill, near the Caradons, and the remains of an ancient smelting-house in the valley near Temple Church. Neither had previously been described. The camp is called Roundaberry, is an irregular circle in shape, has an area of two acres, and is situate high up the hill facing the north. Its entrance has two huge gateway stones, the top of which look as if they had supported a lintel. There was a rampart of six or eight feet round the camp, except at the lower end, where advantage was taken of the conformation of the ground; beyond was a ditch, eight to nine feet deep, with a small rampart on the outer edge. The camp is in excellent order, and every care is taken of it by its owner, Mr. S. Eliott. The old smelting-house is on the Lower Hill House estate, near the margin of the evident stream works in the valley. It is circular in form, with a furnace opposite the entrance. The furnace, also circular, is of granite, reddened and disintegrated by the action of fire. Other pieces of similar granite up and down the valley, indicate the existence of other houses. The old house was discovered amongst the remains of what seemed to have been a streamer's village. Near by were found two ancient tin-moulds.

A paper from the Rev. Prebendary Kinsman was then read on the present and former state of Lintagel Castle. He contended that it was once a whole building, and built upon the same ground throughout, and that the chasm was formed by land slips, which were going on at the present time, and the chasm was still widening. He believed the drawbridge had been made after the castle had become a ruin.

With the usual votes of thanks to the contributors of papers, donors, and the chairman, the meeting was brought to a conclusion.

The Rev. W. Iago, of Bodmin, then gave an interesting ST. GOTHIAN'S ORATORY, CORNWALL. account of the Bodmin ivory casket; of an ancient deed-box THE archæologists of West Cornwall are just now having found by him in a chest in Bodmin Church, known as the their attention directed to the ruinous condition of the little Bodmin skippet; and of a case in which certain deeds oratory of St. Gothian, which is situated among the towans belonging to an ancient charity in Lanivet used to be or sand-hills on the north coast, about a quarter of a mile deposited, the Lanivet skippet. His remarks were illus- from the parish church of Gwithian, near Hayle. Exposed trated by drawings of these and of similar objects. Mr. to the full blast of the winds from the Atlantic, this ancient Iago identified the casket with the reliquary in which the remnant of early Christian times would long ere now have bones of St. Petrock were brought back from France in been swept away, had not the sand, although in one sense 1177; and stated that it was of traditional Moorish work, its destroyer, been its protector by shielding it from outward and that its actual money value at the present time was foes. About forty years or more ago, however, this little certainly not less than 200l. Some drawings of tallies found structure was brought again to light by a farmer who was at Lanivet, Mr. Iago compared with one of the old ex-digging a pond close to the spring or holy well. Since then chequer tallies which he produced. The skippet was at present used by the rector of Lanivet to keep the sacramental plate in.

Two papers by Sir John Maclean, F.S. A., were then read; one on the poll tax returns for Cornwall in 1377, the earliest recorded census of the population of that county; and the other a thirteenth century law suit concerning the presentation to the living of St. Pinnock. The recorded population of Cornwall in 1377, of persons above the age of fourteen, omitting the clergy and the non-fraudulent beggars, was 34,274, which, adding the proportion for children under fourteen, would make up the total population to 51,524. Between that date and the time of the first official census in 1801, when there were 189,278 inhabitants in the county, the population had increased 613 per cent. Between 1801 and 1861, 261 per cent.

Mr. Pengelly next read a paper on the insulation of St. Michael's Mount; and Dr. Bannister followed with a paper contending, against Professor Max Müller, that there was evidence of the presence of Jews in West Cornwall ever since the Phoenicians visited the county for tin. After the reading of several scientific papers, Mr. W. C. Borlase, F.S.A., gave a description, written by the historian, Dr. Borlase, of a fresco discovered in Ludgvan Church in 1740. The fresco is destroyed, but Mr. Borlase produced a drawing of it. It appears to have been of a most frivolous character, which was condemned by the learned doctor.

the building has been gradually going to decay, undergoing many vicissitudes, at one time being converted by a tenant into a cowshed! Were it allowed to remain much longer unprotected and uncared for, it is probable that in a few years hence there would be but little left of this ancient church. A plea for its preservation has more than once been written, but, alas! without the desired effect. But happily the matter has at last been taken up by certain local parties, and a provisionary committee has been formed to devise some plan for ensuring its safety. The Rev. F. Hockin, rector of Gwithian, has consented to act as chairman, the Rev. W. Horsburgh as secretary, and Mr. F. Harvey as trustee.

As preliminary work it is intended to clear out the interior of the building, and "also to sink a few trial-pits in the vicinity in search of bones or other relics, under the superintendence of one or two archeologists." A visitor to the spot more than a year ago describes the interior as having rough pieces of wood and stones lying about, and, being a shelter for cattle, it was very dirty and unpleasant in its appearance. When first discovered, the workmen "came to many skeletons, and soon after to a portion of the eastern wall. Beneath this and under the altar, there were found eight skeletons, ranged side by side, at a depth of three feet below the foundation. Below these skeletons they struck upon the ruins of another wall of rude construction, about three feet in height; beneath this again they

found other skeletons, still buried in the sand, at a depth of fifteen feet from the surface; here water prevented any further research." It is said that some of these skeletons were re-buried.

A few remarks descriptive of the plan and construction of St. Gothian's Oratory may here be added.

The building consists of a nave and chancel, its total length being 45 ft. 10 in. Of this, the chancel occupies 14 ft. 4 in., the rest being appropriated to the nave. The walls of the nave are 3 ft. 4 in. thick, those of the chancel being only 2 ft. 6 in. In height they are now much reduced. Only by comparison with the walls of St. Piran's Oratory at Perranzabuloe, near Truro, can any idea be formed of their original elevation. The side walls at St. Piran were 13 ft. high, and it is probable that those of St. Gothian's Oratory were much about the same height. The walls it must be remembered are built of rough stones, unshaped except by nature, and placed together without cement of any kind. All kinds of stones were used, sandstone, slate, and quartz being built in side by side. In the south wall was a window, also an entrance into the nave. At the north-east corner of the chancel there was another opening, evidently a doorway, originally only a narrow opening 3 ft. 7 in. in width, connected the nave with the chancel. This doorway appears to have become ruinous since the Rev. W. Haslam described the building five-and-twenty

years ago.

ST. MARY-LE-STRAND.

THIS church was re-opened on Sunday the 21st ultimo, after undergoing complete internal restoration. It was built by the-Fields; the first stone was laid on February 25, 1714, James Gibbs, the architect of the church of St. Martin's-inand it was finished on September 7, 1717. The following is the account given by Gibbs of his work:-"The new church in the Strand, called St. Mary-le-Strand, was the first I was situate in a very public place, the commissioners for building employed on after my arrival from Italy, which, being the fifty churches, of which this is one, spared no cost to beautify it. It consists of two orders, in the upper part of which lights are placed; the wall of the lower, being solid to keep out noises from the street, is adorned with niches. There was at first no steeple designed for this church, only a small campanile or turret. A bell was to have been over the west end of it; but at the distance of eighty feet there was a column 250 feet high, intended to be erected in honour of Queen Anne, on the top of which her statue was to be placed. My design for this column was approved by the commissioners, and a great quantity of stone was brought to the place for the foundation of it; but the thoughts of erecting that monument being laid aside at the Queen's death, I was ordered to erect a steeple instead of the campanile first proposed. The building then advanced twenty feet above ground, and therefore admitting of no alteration south, which makes the plan oblong, which should otherfrom east to west, I was obliged to spread it from north to wise have been square. On the site of this church stood the Maypole, which being grown old and decayed, was, anno 1717, obtained by Sir Isaac Newton, Knt., of the parish, and being taken down, and carried away through the city in a carriage of timber (April, 1718) into Wanstead, in Essex, by the leave of Sir Richard Child, Bart., was reared raising of a telescope, the largest in the world, given by a French gentleman (M. Hugon) to the Royal Society. Here also was the first stand for hackney carriages, established by Captain Bailey, who " erected according to his ability some four hackney coaches, put his men in livery, and appointed them to stand at the Maypole in the Strand, and gave them instructions at what rates to carry men into several parts of the town where all day they may be had."

At St. Piran's Oratory there are stone scats round the nave for the people; here there are no stone seats in the nave, it would seem therefore that wooden benches were used. In the chancel, however, stone seats extend all round from the entrance to the eastern end, where the altar slab was placed. They were about 1 ft. 6 in. in width and the same in height. The altar stone of blue slate was 4 ft. 10 in. in length and not more than 3 ft. in width. This we under-up and placed in his park there, the use whereof is for the stand was removed when the tenant made the interior serve as a cowshed. At the same time several holes or breaches in the walls were filled up.

It is to be hoped that through the vigilance and foresight of the members of the committee just formed, this primitive Christian church will be preserved from utter destruction for many years to come. In point of age many believe it to be older than St. Piran's Oratory, owing to the rudeness of the walls and the absence of carved stone in the doorways and window. It would be well, too, if some regard was paid to the state of the little church of St. Piran, which a few years ago was described as "in a most crumbling and shattered condition, the doorway destroyed, and the whole building apparently reduced to a shapeless mass of ruins." The archeologists of Truro would do well to see to this.

E. H. W. DUNKIN.

14, Kidbrooke Park Road, Blackheath, May 27, 1871.

RELICS OF A BY-GONE AGE.-The workmen engaged in making the intercepting sewer in the Brunswick-square district, Brighton, recently found some bones and teeth of a species of deer or ruminant, lying embedded in the brick earth; the teeth were in a very good state of preservation, but the bones were somewhat friable. Through the exertions of J. Round, Esq., one of the members of the Hove Sewers' Board, these interesting mementoes of the past have been secured for the town, and will shortly be placed in the Brighton Museum at the Pavilion.

SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY.-A meeting of this Society will be holden on Tuesday, 6th June, when the following papers will be read:-"On the Early History of Assyria and of Babylonia, from contemporary inscriptions (Part I.), by George Smith, Esq., British Museum; and "On the Date of the Nativity," by J. W. Bosanquet, Esq., F.R.A.S., M.R.A.S., &c. The meeting commences at half-past eight, p.m.

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THE VENDOME COLUMN.

THE beautiful column of the Place Vendôme must not be allowed to fall without an obituary notice. The column was the idea of Napoleon. On the 18th of August the first stone was laid; the work was finished in exactly four years. The column is, or was, of the Doric order, and was of stone, coated with 425 bronze plaques, moulded in bas-reliefs, and winding round the shaft from the pedestal to the lantern. These formed a complete history of the campaign of 1805. of 1200 cannon captured at Ulm and Vienna. The total The bronze weighed 1,800,000 pounds, and was the metal height of the column was 132 feet 3 inches, and it was ascended by a spiral staircase of 176 steps. The pedestal was also covered on three sides with bas-reliefs representing arms, uniforms, flags, and other military gear taken from the Austrians. The inscription was by Visconti, and ran as

follows:

:

DR. JOHNSON'S CHAIR AT ST. JOHN'S GATE,
CLERKENWELL.

ABOUT 1730, this ancient Priory Gate was hired by Edward
Cave, a printer and earnest promoter of English literature,
and by whom the first monthly publication was here started,
under the title of The Gentleman's Magazine. To carry out
this enterprise the medieval rooms were cleared of their
monastic relics, when types and printing presses were intro-
duced.

Dr. Johnson, from his constant contributions to The Gentleman's Magazine, as well as being engaged by Cave on other works, was very frequently at the ancient gate. A room was appropriated specially to him, where in leisure moments he would invite his brother workers. The house still retains a venerable-looking old arm-chair, of which the illustration below is an engraving, fondly and with good reason believed to be the one on which the great lexicographer sat when penning many of his most celebrated works.

ORIGIN OF HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND.

IN a leading article on the Derby Day, the Globe remarks:'Historically regarded, it might be supposed that racing as an institution is older in Yorkshire than in any other of the English counties. It was indigenous in the forest of Galton, to the east of the city of York, as early as the year 1590. But even York must yield in point of antiquity to Chester. Enthusiasts maintain that the Turf was an institution in England in the reign of Athelstan the Saxon: it is certain that the origin of the Chester Cup may be referred to the reign of Henry VIII. In 1511 there was established at Chester a horse-race, the victor in which was presented with a silver bell. Ninety-eight years subsequently three silver cups were substituted, and after another interval of fourteen years one faire Silver Cupp' of about the value of eight pounds took the place of the three. If the line of the annual succession in the contests be not unbroken, their origin is at least an historical fact. Newmarket first became the metropolis of racing in the reign of James I.-the monarch who must also be accredited with the distinction of having popularised the Epsom meeting. Long before the scene to which the multitude has repaired to-day became consecrated to the purposes of horse-racing, Epsom had achieved celebrity in consequence of its medicinal waters and its invigorating climate. It was on the occasion of one of his visits to Norwich Palace that James I. first conceived the idea of enlivening the place of his valetudinarian retirement with equestrian diversions,' and thus royalty created that which royalty has since so often patronised."

MR. STOPS.

For the loan of this engraving we are indebted to Mr. Wickens, the present proprietor, whose predecessor published an account of the gate, from which interesting work we are kindly permitted to give extracts and illustrations on a future occasion. It deserves mention that any reader desiring to inspect the whole or any portion of the structure, will find in the worthy host a courteous guide over this historic tavern.

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ANCIENT BRITISH SCYTHE-ARMED CHARIOT. A CORRESPONDENT in Notes and Queries, writing thereon, concludes his communication by saying that the question of their use is involved in doubt, and "thinks that a Brochure upon ancient British war-chariots by some accomplished archæologist is a literary desideratum.

THE grotesque and archaic look of this figure justifies its introduction into these pages. It is taken from a capital little book for children, entitled "Round Games and Amusing Exercises upon Grammar," published by Messrs. Dean & Son, of Ludgate Hill, who have kindly lent the engraving. This funny figure was designed to teach chil

method of imparting that useful knowledge. It amuses the young, and the most serious adult cannot look upon this Mr. Stops" without laughing at a character so replete in all his points.

Another correspondent writes :-"There is a certain amount of negative evidence touching the question mooted in the fact that at least three interments involving the pre-dren the stops used in punctuation, and is a most capital sence of a buried ancient British chariot' have been met with in Yorkshire. Two of these are noticed in Phillips' Yorkshire,' p. 209, with a reference for fuller information to the Memoirs of the York Meeting of the Arch. Inst., 1846.' The third was discovered by Mr. Kendall, of Pickering, in a tumulus near Cawthorn Camps. He described to me, when showing me the wheel-tires and other parts of the 'find' still extant, the whole transaction, from the first meeting with the hole near its extremity to the complete unearthing of the whole. But the minute examination of the entire interment seemed to have revealed nothing to lead to the inference that scythes had existed. The horse-trappings found showed that draught from the chest, not the shoulder, of the small horses employed had been the rule."

OLIVER CROMWELL'S HOUSE.- Workmen have been employed to demolish the fine old large red-brick mansion on Brixton Rise, which, according to repute, was once occupied by Oliver Cromwell. This is the last specimen in the locality. The property has been purchased by the London Tramway Company.

THE 400th anniversary of the birth of Albert Dürer was celebrated at Nürnberg on Sunday and Monday last.

CORDWAINERS' HALL.

IN the European Magazine, Vol. LX., p. 162, will be found a narrative of the incident which led to the grant, in Flanders, to the workers of old leather there, of the right to precede the Company of Cordwainers, and place an imperial crown over the boot for their arms.

In process of time the Flemish workers settled in Southwark, and sought to obtain in England the like right of precedence. Frequent quarrels were the result of their efforts, and in the view of the historians of the day the contests were as fierce as those of the Houses of York and Lancaster. We are told that to terminate the latter, the heir of Lancaster sought alliance with the heiress of York; and that when presented to her he placed in her bosom the most beautiful white rose that could be procured within his dominions. That the rose blushed to find itself less white, and turned Lancastrian there. Hence the union of the two Houses. What were the patterns of ladies' shoes history does not tell us, but certain it is, that about this time the workers from Flanders yielded their claims of precedence to the new workers in London, and were as a body engrafted upon the root or stem of the latter corporation at their Hall in Cannon Street.

GARRICK'S VILLA, HAMPTON COURT. THIS villa was designed by Adams, the architect of the Adelphi Terrace, and in 1754, David Garrick became possessor of the villa on the edge of the common, which will always be associated with his name. Down by the river he built the Shakespeare Temple. Mrs. Garrick herself was delighted with the garden. A tulip and a cedar tree were planted, writes Mr. Fitzgerald, by her own fair hands, with a sucker from the famous mulberry tree. The Shakespeare Temple, separated from the house by a high road, was reached by a tunnel, suggested by Capability Brown, and warmly recommended by Dr. Samuel Johnson. In the Temple was the famous Roubiliac statue of Shakespeare, now in the British Museum. The rooms in the house were low and not very large. There was a library, a bow-windowed room; the best bed-room, where the bed was in an alcove that could be shut off from the room altogether-a French notion of Mrs. Garrick's. In the dining-room, over the sideboard, hung a portrait of Davis, the faithless biographer. There were three landscapes by Loutherberg, a small Guido, and a fine Andrea del Sarto, presented to Hence the toast for the future would be the sentimentGarrick by Lord Burlington. In the bow-room hung the four famous election pictures of Hogarth. The latter asked "The Worshipful Company of Cordwainers, root and branch, for them two hundred guineas, to be raised in lottery tickets. and may they continue in unanimity and harmony for ever" To spare his friend the humiliation of canvassing for theira custom observed to this day; and that neither one nor the sale, Garrick resolved to purchase them. This virtue was other member of the Company may be otherwise than on an well rewarded. Some sixty or seventy years after Mr. equal footing, the toast is proposed for all alike by the clerk. Sloane was glad to secure them for seventeen hundred and Est perpetua. thirty-two pounds ten shillings. About the house, too, was a good deal of rare china, in which Garrick was curious. The Shakespeare curiosities which were treasured in the Temple must have been the least interesting of the whole collection. Grand company came to Hampton Court. The Garricks were important people, and lived in state. When they went into town, it was in a carriage and four horses. They visited the quality, and the quality visited them. David Garrick dearly loved a lord, but he was a true, good man for all that. At Hampton every inhabitant of the place could say so. He was a father to the poor. On the first of May every year the poor children of the parish were invited to his garden, and were amused and gratified still further by receiving from the hands of the great artist huge cakes, not mere trumpery penny buns, and a present of money. It was not till 1822, the date of her death, that Mrs. Garrick parted with the Hampton property, which, however, got sadly out of repair, and when her husband had been buried in Westminster Abbey more than twenty years. At that time the beautiful Violette-beautiful indeed she still looks in the sketch by Zoffany-had got to be, as Dean Stanley tells us in his "Memorials of Westminster Abbey," "a little bowed-down old lady, leaning on a gold-headed stick, and always talking of her Davy." At Hampton she was often visited by Queen Charlotte, who found her once peeling onions, and herself got a knife and began peeling onions also. What an employment for a queen!

It seems, however, that they had sometimes better things than onions at the villa. "I," wrote Gibbon in 1776, "took the opportunity of eating turtle with Garrick." A few years after we find him living in clover, and in a letter to Lord Sheffield, dated 1782, he writes, "the Hampton Court villa has answered my expectations, and proved no small addition to my comforts, so that I am resolved next summer to have, borrow, or steal, either the same, or something of the same kind." In 1789, Horace Walpole writes, "I drank tea at Mrs. Garrick's with the Bishop of London and Mrs. Porteous "-surely he might have called her the bishop's lady—“ Mr. Batt, and Dr. Cadyan and his daughter." Well may we love to think of the past in Hampton, of Gibbon, and of Garrick, and of Horace Walpole, of the nobs and beauties, of the fine lords and ladies who there came to feast and flirt.-City Press.

INSCRIPTION FOR A SCULPTURE GALLERY,
BRITISH MUSEUM.

Move lightly here, that so no marring sound
May shock the solemn stillness of the place;
Let no irreverent laugh upon thy face

Be seen, but let each step and look be found
Proclaiming how thy soul by thought is bound;
The rude remark from thine unguarded tongue
Suppress-remember whom thou mov'st among:
Great Spirits present make it holy ground!
Art thou familiar with each sculptured stone?
Not with loud speech thy vaunting knowledge show,
(Or, rather, heedless so thine ignorance own)
Annoying all who meditative go.

And, oh, be well determined ere you leave
This hall august, deep wisdom to receive.

PARLIAMENTARY.

C. B. S.

THE SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM. LORD CAIRNS asked, on Friday, the 19th May, when it was intended to erect the building for the reception of the British Museum Natural History Collection on the piece of ground at South Kensington made over to the nation by the Commissioners of the Exhibition of 1851, and under what authority a portion of that ground had been occupied by refreshment booths in connection with the Royal International Exhibition.

The Duke of ST. ALBAN'S said that a great deal of time had necessarily been consumed in negotiations between the Board of Works and the Trustees of the British Museum; and that two or three months more would be required for the final settlement of the plans. A vote of 40,000l. would, however, be taken this year for the new building. As the land had been made over to the nation at a price very much below its market value, on the condition that it should only be applied to the purposes of science and art, the Government did not think there was any impropriety in granting a