The Rev. S. M. Mayhew, F.S.A., exhibited an enormous collection of bronzes, from Butler's Wharf, Bermondsey, so numerous as to lead to the conclusion that it was the site of a bronze factory. The chief articles were ecclesiastical, and some domestic; such as pins, wire, a gypsire mouth, reliquary, scourge, missal-clasp, steelyards, scale-beams, spurs, fish-hooks (or small harpoons), sail-needles, a gimlet, a morris-dancer's bell, keys, knife-handles,-some of which are gilt and engraved. Mr. Watling exhibited drawings of Roman flue-tiles, with set patterns on them, found at Stonham, Suffolk. Mr. J. S. Phené read a paper on the pottery found in tumuli in Scotland, chiefly on the site of Berigonium, from which, and from Jedburgh, he exhibited examples. to visitors. Mr. J. Blashill produced a drawing and brief description of the Roman pavement just now discovered in Mark-lane. He stated that it was 8ft. beneath the surface, is of common red tessera, and is very uneven on the surface. Several pieces of Samian and other pottery had been found, and sold Other exhibitions having been made, it was announced that the Council had resolved to communicate with the French authorities, with a view to the preservation of the ancient walls of Dax, whereupon it was moved by Mr. W. H. Black, F.S.A., and carried : "That the members of this association cordially approve of the steps taken by the Council to intercede with the public authorities in France on behalf of the ancient fortifications of the town of Dax, and earnestly hope that they may be spared from destruction, in accordance with the public voice of men of learning and science in this country and elsewhere." SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES. AT the meeting of this Society on the 20th ultimo, A. W. Franks, Esq., V.P., in the chair, the Rev. A. Pownall communicated further notes on the curious glass bottles discovered under the churches of South Kilworth and Lutterworth respectively. The chairman remarked that these bottles were of undoubted antiquity, and of great rarity, as the oldest English glass vessel of known date was probably no older than the reign of George III. Mr. W. White observed that about six or seven years ago a glass bottle was found in the foundations of the chancel-wall of the church of St. Phillack, Cornwall, which was believed to contain the blood of St. Felicitas (of which St. Phillack is a corruption), and which could not have been later than the twelfth century. Capt. Tupper communicated an account of his visit to Beddington, near Croydon, the site of some recent discoveries, of which fuller particulars were promised to the Society by the resident engineer, Mr. Addy. Mr. S. D. Walker exhibited an iron-capped stake and a pair of snuffers, found during some excavations at Nottingham. Mr. W. White read a paper "On the Use of the Ancient Galilee in the Cathedral Church of Durham." The anniversary of the Society of Antiquaries of London was held on Monday, the 24th of April last, at their apartments in Somerset House, when, in pursuance of their Statutes and Charter of Incorporation, they elected a President, Council, and Officers of the Society for the year ensuing. The Right Hon. the Earl Stanhope, President; Augustus Woollaston Franks, Esq., M.A., Vice-President; Sir William Tite, C.B., M.P., Vice-President; the Very Rev. A. P. Stanley, D.D., Dean of Westminster, Vicecer Perceval, Esq., LL.D., Director; the Rev. James Gerald President; Frederick Owny, Esq., Treasurer; Charles SpenJoyce, B.A., Auditor; George Steinman Steinman, Esq., Auditor; Colonel Augustus Henry Lane Fox; the Rev. John Fuller Russell, B.C.L., and William Smith, Esq., II members from the old Council, were chosen of the new Council; Lieut-Colonel John Farnaby Lennard, Auditor; LL.D.; Richard Redmond Caton, Esq.; Charles Drury Thomas Lewin, Esq., M.A., Auditor; Samuel Birch, Esq., Edward Fortnum, Esq.; the Rev. Wharton Booth Marriott, M.A.; the Rev. William Sparrow Simpson, M.A.; George Richmond, Esq., R.A., D.C.L.; the Hon. William Owen Stanley, M.P.; and William John Thomas, Esq., 10 of the other fellows of the Society were chosen of the new Council; and C. Knight Watson, Esq., M.A., was re-elected Secretary. NUMISMATIC SOCIETY. ON the 20th ultimo, this Society held a meeting in their rooms, when W. S. W. Vaux, Esq., F.R.S., President, occupied the chair. Mr. Evans exhibited a sceatta of Ethelræd I., King of Mercia, A.D. 675—704; also a hoard, consisting of twelve coins of William the First, or Second, and Henry the First, lately found in the south part of Bedfordshire. They are pennies of the types engraved in Hawkins's "English Silver Coinage," Nos. 244, 246, 247, 250, and 252.-Mr. Barclay V. Head read a paper, communicated by M. F. de Saulcy, "On the Coins bearing the Legends, ΑΝΤΙΟΧΕΩΝ ΤΩΝ ΠΡΟΣ ΔΑΦΝΗΣ, ΑΝΤΙΟΧΕΩΝ TON EN ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΔΙ, and ΑΝΤΙΟΧΕΩΝ ΤΩΝ ΕΠΙ KAAAIPOHI, and having on the Reverse the Figure of the Olympian Zeus." M. de Saulcy argued that these coins were not struck by the people of Antioch, as is generally supposed, but by certain corporations of Jewish merchants established at the three localities above mentioned, who had adopted the Greek faith and the worship of Zeus Olympius, and upon whom the title and the rights of citizens of Antioch had been conferred by Seleucus Nicator, in reward for their apostasy, B.C. 291 (Josephus, "Ant. Jud." XII. c. iii. 1). LONDON AND MIDDLESEX ARCHEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. ONE of those interesting and pleasant gatherings for which this Society is famous took place on Thursday, the 4th instant, and there was a very large attendance of ladies and gentlemen. Amongst the company were Mr. F. H. Janson (Master of the Leathersellers' Company), Mr. Ord-Hall, Mr. J. G. Nichols, F.S.A., Rev. T. Hugo, F.S.A., Mr. J. W. Bailey, Mr. W. H. Black, Mr. Franklin, Major Healds, Mr. A. White, Mr. G. H. Giddins, Sir Duncan Gibb, Colonel Robinson, Dr. E. Smith, Captain_Ward, Captain J. Britson, Mr. Lewis Berger, and Mr. Edgar Graham. It was the happiest of "happy thoughts" which made the council decide upon a visit to the City of London, so rich in archæological treasures, and from first to last good taste and sound judgment characterised the arrangements, The meeting was presided over by Mr. F. H. Janson. master of the Leathersellers' Company, and the first place visited was Leathersellers' Hall, where, after a brief address from the chairman, who welcomed the visitors in the name of the wardens and members, and in graceful terms acknowledged the honour done to the company by the society selecting it for a visit, the ancient charters and records of the Leathersellers' Company were exhibited, and some pithy remarks made upon them by Mr. W. H. Black, who also gave a short summary of the history of the company gleaned from these documents. The Rev. T. Hugo, one of the vice-presidents of the society, then gave a short paper on the " Hospital of Le Patey, Bishopsgate," which gave evidence of great antiquarian re-stood that the great window of the north transept will be search, and was listened to with marked attention. A large collection of drawings, prints, &c., of Leathersellers' Hall and the neighbourhood were exhibited by Mr. J. E. Gardner, which were well worthy inspection. The company then proceeded to the Church of St. Andrew Undershaft (Leadenhall Street), where Mr. W. H. Black gave a brief notice of Hans Holbein (the celebrated painter), as a parishioner of St. Andrew Undershaft. Remarking upon the fact of the great painter having dwelt in the parish, and asserting that his remains were buried in the church, the will of the painter, a curiosity in itself, was read. It showed the artist to have been in poverty, and in debt to a money-lender in Antwerp. Mr. Black controverted the usually accepted time of Holbein's death, viz., 1554, and from the records he had unearthed fixed it eleven years earlier, viz., 1543. The records of the church were then commented upon and explained by Mr. W. H. Overall, F.S.A., the principal features of interest being the letters patent, given in the reign of Elizabeth, uniting the two churches of St. Mary-at-Axe and St. Andrew Undershaft, dated September 12, 1562, The record of deaths during the plague was also commented upon, and turning over the leaves, one saw the fearful ravages it committed, whole families being swept off. The melancholy record shows that out of 182 people buried in the year in that church 116 died of the plague. The sacred edifice contains many monuments and brasses, and rubbings A NEW CAVERN has been discovered in the mountain from some of the latter were exhibited. The one which attracted most attention was that of Master Nicholas Leve-limestone formation at Stainton, near Ulverston, North son and his wife, who died, leaving a family of eight sons Lancashire. Immense ridges of limestone exist at this place, and ten daughters to mourn their loss. Proceeding to the and hundreds of tons of the rock have been carried away church of St. Peter-upon-Cornhill, the Rev. R. Whitting-weekly to the neighbourhood smelting furnaces of the Barton, vicar of the parish, remarked upon the history of the row Hæmatite Iron and Steel Company. Escarpment after church and the archives of the parish, stating that St. escarpment has been cleared away, and in an immense cutPeter's was said to be the first church founded in London, ting in the rock, about half way up the face of a perpenby Lucius, the first Christian king, the date of foundation dicular cliff, 100 feet high, is the entrance to the cavern. being 199. The church was restored after the fire. Among The length from the mouth of the cavern was 235 yards. the interesting objects exhibited here was a MS. copy of Many visitors have been attracted to this place, but few have the Holy Bible written on vellum, every page of which is ventured to the end. beautifully illuminated, filled with painted glass, at the cost of Sir M. Hicks-Beach, M.P., as a memorial to the late Lady Beach, and that the subject will probably be the life of St. Paul, as that of the great window in the south transept is the life of St. Peter. THE ABYSSINIAN ABANAS CROWN.-The following reply, by the Under Secretary of State for War to the Abyssinian Prize Fund Committee, is in the correspondence on this subject just printed :-"December 8, 1870. Gentlemen, I am directed by Mr. Secretary Cardwell to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 10th of October, inclosing copy of a correspondence which has passed between the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, the trustees of the British Museum, and Colonel Milward, as the representative of the prize committee of the late army in Abyssinia, on the subject of the proposed purchase, for a sum of 20007., of a gold crown and chalice taken at Magdala by the late expedition, and requesting that the Secretary of State would sioners of the Treasury. In reply, urge the justice of the claim' upon the Lords Commisam to state to you that Mr. Cardwell has no power to compel either the trustees of the British Museum or the Treasury to authorize the payment in question, and he does not feel himself entitled to interfere with their decisions respectively. I have, &c., EDWARD LUGARD.-The Abyssinian Prize Fund Com ARCHEOLOGICAL. DISCOVERY IN THE GUANO DEPOSITS OF PERU.-An English engineer in Peru states that remarkable discoveries have been made in the lower excavations in the guano of the Guanape Islands. The guano appears to have preservative properties. Besides gold ornaments and other objects, a quantity of cloth was found, said to have been paintings of animals and symbols, of which the colours were well preserved. The Athenæum doubts about the paintings and the symbols, because it suspects that the stuff was tappa, or stamped cloth, as in Polynesia, with which traces of intercourse have been found in Guanape. An early remittance of some of the objects to London is expected. mittee." ANTIQUITIES. SOME antiquities obtained from excavations in Cyprus were sold on Monday and Tuesday last, by Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge. We quote the following: A large Amphora, covered with ornamental patterns, 87. 195. (Wareham),-another of the same style and size, 137. 55. (Hall),-a large globular Enoche, Phoenician, 127. (Hall), Terra-cotta Head of a Cyprian Venus 57. (Feuardent),Head of a helmeted and bearded Warrior, 67. 5s. (Wareham). From the objects in chalk-stone may be selected, Bust of a Young Man, 10 inches high, 87. (Wareham),— Child's Head with a Wreath, 57. (Hoffman),-another with a thick Tuft of Hair, 5 inches high, 67. 6s. (Curt),—a large archaic Head of Apollo, 71. (Hoffman),-Statuette of an Egyptian King, 12 inches high, 207. (same),-Colossal Head of a Man with a long Beard, 13 inches high, 201. (same),GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL RESTORATION.-Special effort Head of the same kind, beard and head painted red, 40. is being made to have the choir completed in time for the (same),-Female Head crowned with a Wreath of Laurel, Triennial Musical Festival, to be held in September next. Greek, 1257. (Whitehead),-Head of a Greek Girl, found at Much of the basement has been prepared for the new tile Pyla, 307. (Wareham). The collection comprised enamelled flooring, in imitation of the ancient tiles found in the cathe-ware and jewellery found in tombs at Idalium. dral. The fine clerestory windows on the north side have been filled with beautiful stained glass, while the west window has been chiefly restored with fragments of ancient A farm servant a few days since dug up in a field near glass found in the chapels of the crypt and elsewhere, and Kilbride, Scotland, a mass of 200 old silver coins. which have been artistically united. Two other works of were of the reign of Edward VI., others of Elizabeth, great interest have been finished--the restoration and deco- James I., Charles I., and one or two were Scotch, and a ration of the Chapel of St. Philip, as a memorial to Sir C. few Spanish. Within the last few years several ancient W. Codrington, for many years member for the eastern remains, and other objects have been accidentally turned up division of the county; and the restoration, at the cost of the in the same locality, or become exposed after heavy rains. Earl of Ellenborough, of the chapel in the north transept. A process of denudation is evidently going on in the district, The work in the first is Norman in character, and is founded which is on a slope, and the fields about seem to be rich in on fragments in Ely and Durham Cathedrals. It is under- | antiquarian and archæological remains. Some MAY. MAY is so called from Maia, the mother of Mercury, to whom sacrifices were offered by the Romans on the 1st of this month, or, according to some, from respect to the senators and nobles of Rome, who were called Majores, as the following month was termed Junius in honour of the youths of Rome. The Saxons called May tri-milchi, because in that month they began to milk their kine three times a-day. Is not this the merry Month of May, To gather may-baskets and smelling breese, But we here sitten as drowned in a dream.-SPENCER. All ranks formerly went out into the woods a maying early on the 1st of this month, returning laden with boughs and garlands, and spending the remainder of the day in dancing round a May-Pole crowned with flowers; of customs like these, Mr. Leslie's picture of May Morning conveys a most excellent representation. One of the poles was standing in East Smithfield about the year 1740, and another opposite the new church in the Strand, in Queen Anne's reign, but was taken down in 1717. Other sports and pastimes besides those of Maying were celebrated by our ancestors on this day. In the time of Cromwell fifty Cornish gentlemen on one side "hurled the great Ball" to fifty on the other; one party played in red caps, the other in white, in Hyde Park. Cromwell, and many of his Privy Council were present. The ball they played with was silver and designed for the party that won the goal. A peculiar rustic ceremony used annually to be observed at Horncastle, in Lincolnshire, about fifty years ago. The young of the neighbourhood assembled to partake of the amusements, with wands enwreathed with cowslips, and walked in procession to the May-Pole-there uniting in the wild joy of young enthusiasm; they struck together their wands and scatter around their cowslips. At Saistow in Cornwall, there is a singular species of festivity on the 1st of May. This is called the Hobby-horse, from canvas being extended with hoops, and painted to resemble a horse. Being carried through the streets, men, women, and children flock round it, when they proceed to a place called Traitorpool, about a quarter of a mile distant, in which the Hobbyhorse is always supposed to drink, when the head, being dipped into the water, is instantly taken up and the mud and water are sprinkled upon the spectators, to the no small diversion of all; on returning home a particular song is sung that is supposed to commemorate the event that gave the Hobby-horse birth. That Queen Elizabeth actually went a Maying, we have the authority of "The progress of this Queen," (vol. iv. part 1.) where the fact is thus stated. " May 8th, 1602. On May Day the Queen went a Maying to Sir Richard Buckley's at Lewisham, some three or four miles off Greenwich." DISCOVERY OF ROMAN REMAINS. the base of a small tower, is partly beyond the north- been met with elsewhere. ROMAN REMAINS IN MARK LANE. EARLY last week, in excavating in what was formerly the garden belonging to No. 27, Mark Lane, a noble City mansion, of apparently the 17th century, the workmen came upon some remains of a Roman tesselated pavement, about ten feet below the level of the ground. The pavement was rather rude, the tessera being formed from fragments of red tiles roughly shapen into inch squares of less than an inch in thickness. The extent of these remains was about twelve feet by six, of a pear-like form, the narrow end greatly declining, having become depressed either by the original sinking of its bed, or by the pressure of accumulating soil. At any rate the sinking had not been caused through the yielding of any sub-cavity, as no hypocaust was present or THE CASTELLANI COLLECTION.-The Castellani col-even indicated. As yet but a few picces of Roman pottery lection of artistic treasures, for the exhibition of which at have been found. The spot is about 70 feet from the street South Kensington preparations had actually commenced, is line of frontage. likely to be broken up. Financial difficulties (according to the Architect) have intervened to prevent its acquisition by the British Government. It is the intention of the proprietor to submit the majolica division to public auction in the ensuing season. Respecting the antique jewelry, the collecting of which has occupied much time and labour of three generations of artist-jewellers, there is some hope that the collection may yet be preserved in its entirety. The chief portion is to be warehoused, but a selection of choice representative pieces will, by the permission of the trustees of the British Museum, be exhibited within the walls of that institution. ANCIENT CITY ARCHITECTURE.-But few of the quaintlooking gabled houses of the City of London now remain, and of these four or five are about to be removed; two, indeed, are almost demolished now, viz., 155 and 156, Aldersgate-street. The other old houses about to be taken down are in Fore-street, at the corner of Milton-street. EDWARD SIMPSON, better known as "Flint Jack," a notorious vendor of spurious antiquities, such as flint arrow heads, &c., has been committed to prison at Northallerton for a month, as a rogue and vagabond, ANCIENTS. STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF THE to be that of Rameses III., who reigned about 1250 B.C. Dr. Burney, in his History of Music, published Bruce's (Copied, by permission, from "The History of the Pianoforte." letter to him, accompanied by drawings of one of these harps. By Edgar Brinsmead, Esq.) N sketching the birth and development of our national instrument, the pianoforte, it will be necessary to give some short description of its ancestors. Much light has been thrown on this subject by the various interesting researches and discoveries made in the present century; for not only have we learned much of the ancient musical instruments from the sculptures and paintings that have been discovered, but several of the actual instruments have been found in tombs or other protected places, where they had remained during an extraordinarily long period, almost without change. One of these-an Egyptian harp-was found in one of the famous tombs at Thebes, and when the catgut strings upon it were touched the harp still emitted sounds, although it had been unused probably for three thousand years. In describing these ancient instruments we shall confine ourselves almost entirely to the stringed instruments from which the pianoforte is descended. Amongst the ancient stringed instruments, the harp and lyre are probably of the greatest antiquity, but which had the priority of invention it is impossible to ascertain with certainty. The harp, which was much used in ancient Egypt and Assyria, varied greatly in size and shape, as will be seen from the illustrations of Egyptian harps. 1. Ancient Egyptian Harp, from instrument in Egyptian Museum, Florence. 2. Ancient Egyptian Harp (Wilkinson). The discovery of these drawings created a great sensation, and was hardly believed until other travellers confirmed his statement. Bruce, with much truth says, "These harps, in my opinion, overturn all the accounts hitherto given of the earliest state of ancient musical instruments in the East, and are altogether, in their form, ornament, and compass, an incontestable proof that geometry, drawing, mechanics, and music, were at the greatest perfection when this instrument was made, and that the period from which we date the 3. Ancient Egyptian Harp (Wilkinson). 4. Persian Chang (from Persian MS. 410 years old). Lane's "Arabian Nights." Those harps intended for single use were made portable and light, whilst those for choral accompaniments were large and powerful, being evidently intended to stand on the ground. Carl Engel, in "The Music of the most Ancient Nations," remarks that "the Asiatic harps never had a front pillar to assist in withstanding the tension on the strings, as we have in our own; but probably metal or ivory was used in the manufacture, to permit of the strings being screwed up very tightly. The harp of the Burmese, and other inhabitants of the countries situated between Hindoostan and China, is very similar to the Assyrian harp. The Burmese harp is tuned by tasseled cords at the end of the strings, which are bound to the upper curved end so that they can be pushed up or down to tune the instrument. This is similar to the manner occasionally adopted by the ancients; but their usual system of tuning seems to have been by tuning-pegs, round which the strings were passed." The Egyptian harps were sometimes most remarkable for elegance of form and elaborate decoration. The celebrated traveller James Bruce found two, painted in fresco, on the wall of an ancient sepulchre at Thebes, which is supposed invention of these arts was only the beginning of the era of their restoration. One of these harps has thirteen strings, but wants the fore-piece of the frame opposite to the longest string. The back part is the sounding-board, composed of four thin pieces of wood joined together in form of a cone-that is, growing wider towards the bottom; so that as the length of the string increases the square of the corresponding space in the sounding-board, in which the sound was to undulate, always increases in proportion. The whole of the principles on which this harp is constructed are rational and ingenious, and the ornamental parts are executed in the very best manner. It would be even now impossible either to construct or to finish a harp of any form with more taste and elegance." The lyre, which is, perhaps, even more than the harp the immediate ancestor of the pianoforte, was much used in Egypt and Assyria for religious festivities. The illustrations will convey some idea of the shape of the ancient lyres, and the manner in which they were played. The drawings of the first two Assyrian lyres are from sculptures in the British Museum, which were found at Konyunjik; the third is taken from Botta's "Ninève." 1. Played with a plectrum. 2. Played with the fingers. It will be noticed that the lyre was of many different shapes, and that the strings being partly carried, as in the pianoforte, over the sounding-board, they were not free to be struck upon both sides throughout their entire length by the plectra or by the fingers of the performer. This is the distinction between the harp and the lyre, for the harp can be played the whole length of the strings upon both sides, as the sounding-board is differently placed. Both instruments were played with the fingers, and the lyre with the plectrum also, which was generally a small piece of ivory or bone, as in illustration 1, which the player pressed against the strings, snapping them as though they were pulled by the finger. Assyrian bas-relief (British Museum). a very favourite instrument with the Greek, and was probably imported by them from Egypt through Asia Minor. The plectra were sometimes, however, short sticks, similar Perhaps the dulcimer, even more than the harp and lyre, to that used by the player on the dulcimer in the frontis- was the immediate ancestor of the pianoforte. It was piece, and in the representation of the Assyrian dulcimer. played with the plectrum for striking, both by the Egyptians These were held one in each hand, and were used for and Assyrians, and, later, by the Hebrews and Persians. striking the strings of the instrument played upon, to set | The strings in this instrument passed completely over the |