neous town, because the fand is rich as well as dry; for fand which is poor would foon crumble in from every fide of the pit, and confequently occafion the neceffity of frequently removing the incumbrance. Cole's pits are alfo furrounded by a moft fertile country.'

Art. XXIX. Memoir on Hokeday, By the Rev. Mr. Denne, Hoke, Hokeday, or Hock-tyde, was formerly a season of great feftivity in England, but from what caufe is uncertain. By fome antiquarians this festival is confidered as the remains of a heathen cuftom, while others fuppofe that it was defigned to celebrate the deliverance of Englishmen from the dominion of the Danes. Among those who favour the latter opinion, fome have afcribed the inftitution to the maffacre of the Danes in the reign of Etheldred II. and others to the death of Hardicanute, the laft monarch of that race, at a marriage-feaft at Lambeth, on the 8th of June 1042. The opinion laft mentioned is that which is supported by Mr. Denne.

Art. XXX. A Letter from Governor Pownall to the Rev. Michael Lort, D. D. inclofing Mr. Ledwich's Letter on the Ship Temples in Ireland.-The following is the description. of a monument, fuppofed to be of this kind, in the county. of Mayo.

"On a conical ifolé hill, about two miles from the Mullet, on the western coaft of the county of Mayo, ftands a very ancient and curious monument in good prefervation. The walls. are two feet thick, and formed of courfes of well-jointed flones,, but without cement. Their elevation to the roofing is feven feet; the length of the room fifteen feet; the breadth unequal; the ground plan forming a curvilineal triangle. The door placed on one fide is constituted of three large ftones, two converging uprights with an impoft. The roof is made with large flag-ftones, with a graffy covering. There is no tradition respecting it. The natives call it Leabba na Fathach, or the Giant's Bed."

Art. XXXI. Obfervations on the Alphabet of the Pagan Irish, and of the Age in which Finn and Offin (Offian) lived. By Colonel Charles Vallancey.-The colonel, after laying before his readers a letter from Mr. O'Flanagan, in the county of Clare, relative to an ancient monument, obferves that it elucidates two defirable facts. One is, that the ancient Irish had an alphabetical character before the arrival of St. Patrick; and the other, that the period in which the above mentioned heroes flourished, was the latter part of the third century.

Art. XXXII. erroneously marked XXXI. An Account of fome Artificial Caverns in the Neighbourhood of Bombay. By Mr. William Hunter, Surgeon in the Eaft Indies,

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I cannot but conceive that thefe pits, thus defcribed by Leland, were dug by the aborigines of this ifland for the pur pofe of habitations, as it is believed that there are no mines at prefent of any kind in this part of the Black Mountain, much lefs could they have been excavated for this purpose before the time of Leland..

Fortunately, however, for the conjecture I have made upc this occafion, though not fo for their own comforts, there now inhabitants of Kamfkatka, who are as little civilized our aboriginal ancestors, and who make use of the fame ex vations for the fame purpose.'

The ingenious author, after fupporting his conjecture Aimilar examples, proceeds to folve the queftion, that if pits really formed a British town, why do not we find mo them in different parts of the island?

To this I answer, fays he, that those which I have an account of to the Society, probably were confidered London of thofe rude times, for it is fairly to be inferre more than fourteen acres having been thus excavated, wards of thirteen hundred inhabitants lived in this metropolis.

All barbarous and uncultivated countries are m peopled; and thirteen hundred fouls, living contiguou fuch a fpace, are for fuch times perhaps a greater n the then capital of this ifland, than eight hundred are for the prefent.

In other inftances, four or five dens were fufficie tute a village, which when they happen to be fto from having not been filled up for the purposes of are commonly attributed to the digging for ftone, foffile material.

The truth, however, is, that few think abo what they moft commonly meet with; nor is thi pits (covering fourteen acres of ground) noticed the neighbourhood, but for its fometimes harbo

• That there are others very similar in the E of Carmarthenshire, appears by what I have al Leland's Itinerary; and I am informed that which lie in Somersetshire, between Meere being called the Pen-Pitts. I have little doub if this my conjecture fhould be confidered. many other fuch excavations will be heard of extent of ground covered with them is larg pence of filling them up would amount t never could anfwer for cultivation.

I fhall conclude what I have to offer to head by obferving, that the Coxwell pits fituation which must have been convenien

Art. XXXIII. marked XXXII. A Differtation on the Religion of the Druids. By Edward Ledwich, LL. B. Vicar of Aghaboe, Queen's County, Ireland. This fenfible writer oppofes, with much force of argument, the opinion maintained by fome antiquaries, that the Druids were converfant with the fciences. His opinion is, that the Druids poffeffed no internal or external doctrine; either veiled by fymbols, or clouded in ænigmas, or any religious tenets but the characteriftic of barbarian pricfts, and the groffeft Gentile superstition.' Art. XXXIV. Account of a curious Pagoda near Bombay, drawn up by Captain Pyke, afterwards Governor of St. Helena, and extracted from his Journal by Alexander Dalrymple, Efq.

Art. XXXV. Extract by the late Smart Lethieullier, Efq. from the Papers of the late Charles Boon, Efq. Governor of Bombay, giving an Account of the great Pagoda on the Island of Salfet.

Art. XXXVI. Subfidy Roll of 51 Edward III. communicated by John Topham, Efq.-This roll is a transcript of a record containing fome hiftorical facts, which tend to illuftrate the fate of the population and revenues of this kingdom at the period to which it relates.

Art. XXXVII. On the Radical Letters of the Pelafgians and their derivatives. By Thomas Aftle, Efq.-The Pelaf. gians were the moft ancient inhabitants of Greece, of whom we have any account; and from the monuments of their colonies which fettled at Etruria and other parts of Italy at an early period, the best information concerning their language has been derived. There is reafon to conclude, that the alphabet which the Pelafgi firft brought into Italy, was carried out of Phoenicia before the Phoenicians had augmented the number of radical letters of which it was originally compofed. According to Mr. Swinton, this alphabet confifted of thirteen letters; but father Gori contends, that the number it included was only twelve; and Mr. Aftle, after much investigation, declares himself of the fame opinion.

Art. XXXVIII. Obfervations on a Seal of Thomas, Suffragan Bishop of Philadelphia. By the Rev. Mr. Pegge.This titular Lifhop of Philadelphia was prebendary of Stow in Lindley in the church of Lincoln, inftalled April 12, 1544, and was fuffragan to John Longland, bishop of that fee.

Art. XXXIX. Observations on the Remains of the Amphitheatre of Flavius Vefpafian at Rome, as it was in the year 1777. By Mr. Thomas Hardwick.

Art. XL. Obfervations on an ancient Sword. By Lieutenant-general Melvill. Though the length of this fword, from

the

the cross-piece of the handle to the point, is full nineteen inches, which is rather longer than the Roman gladii appear to have been, from the greater part of baffi relievi, yet generál Melvill, from feyeral circumstances, which we think wellfounded, concludes it to be a legionary gladius.

Art. XLI. A Letter from the Rev. Mr. James Douglas to General Melvill, on the Sword mentioned in the preceding. Article.

Art. XLII. Account of fome Antiquities found in Gloucestershire. By the Rev. Mr. Mutlow.

Art. XLIII. Obfervations on the Language of the People commonly called Gypfies. By Mr. Marfden.-The author of thefe Obfervations informs us that, after much accurate enquiry, there is found to be a great fimilarity between the Hindoftanic language and that of the Gypfies in this kingdom. He inftitutes a comparison in a number of words, which feem to justify the remark; but how far fuch a coincidence, obfervable likewife in fome other languages, can evince, with any degree of certainty, that the Hindoftanic and Gypfey tribes have formerly been one people, we are not fuch affertors of etymological or verbal authority to pronounce in the affirmative.

Art. XLIV. Collections on the Zingara, or Gypfey language. By Jacob Bryant, Efq.-This article, which feems to be intended as a fupplement to, the preceding, contains five pages of a vocabulary of the Zingara, .or Gypiey language; feveral of which words accord with others in the native Perfic, or in the Perfic of Indoftan. Some inftances are likewife produced of a remarkable fimilarity between words of the Zingara and other languages, among which are the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.

Art. XLV. A Defcription and Plan of the ancient Timber Bridge at Rochester, collected from two manufcripts, published in Lambarde's Perambulation of Kent.

In an Appendix to the volume are contained extracts of fuch communications as the Council of the Antiquarian Society has not thought proper to publish entire. The principal fubjects are fome Account of a brafs Image of Roman workmanship, found at Cirencefter; Account of Difcoveries at Allington in Kent; and of a Roman Pavement found at Caerwent, in 1778.

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