In the course of my official duties, I have lately been examining the Chancery bills of the fifteenth century. The number of these documents preserved in the Public Record Office is very great. Masses of them have never been seen by the public since they were presented. Now they are being cleaned and arranged, so as to make them accessible to students, and catalogues of them are being printed.

The famous jewel known as the Crystal of Lothair, now in the British Museum, was preserved from the first half of the tenth century down to the French Revolution in the Abbey of Waulsort or Vasor, on the Meuse, seven kilomètres from Dinant. Its truly remarkable history has already been briefly related for English readers by Mr. W. H. James Weale, while its importance to art and archæology is discussed in French and Belgian publications by M. Ernest Babelon, of the Cabinet des Médailles, Paris, and by M. Alfred Bequet of Namur. But it has never been described in English at any length, nor has it been hitherto reproduced by a photographic process on a scale worthy of its exceptional interest. The late Sir A. Wollaston Franks, P.S.A., went so far as to have a negative taken, and intended to publish it in Archaeologia a good many years ago; but unfortunately the pressure of other work prevented him from carrying out his purpose. It is from this negative that the photogravure illustrating the present paper (Plate I.) has been produced.

The comparatively few Englishmen who are well acquainted with the ancient churches of Spain know that this most fascinating country possesses a series of ecclesiastical buildings architecturally equal in most respects to the finest examples in France, and infinitely superior to those of Italy; while no others in Europe are so rich in woodwork, ironwork, decorative furniture, and other works of art, often of the most magnificent description, and which, in very many cases, remain in their original state to this day. Spanish art is, moreover, a native art, and is largely independent of, though certainly influenced by, the workmen of more northerly countries.

The subject I now bring before you is by no means a new one; so it is not my intention to go too much over ground already occupied. But the numerous conventional forms by which chain mail has been represented have led to many errors of interpretation, and especially in the articles by Sir Samuel Meyrick in Archaeologia, which are still quoted as authorities, so that I have long felt it was required for that accuracy which is now looked for in all antiquarian studies, that the subject should be revived and discussed. I have had the matter before me for half a century, so cannot therefore be accused of too much hurry in inflicting upon you that which might be thought unnecessary. I should have hesitated in my early days to oppose myself to so high an authority as Meyrick, whose learning and research had done so much to place the history of armour on a firmer basis than it ever had been before, but it was not until I had studied monumental effigies, brasses, and medieval manuscripts that I felt there was considerable doubt as to many of his conclusions. Yet it must here be noted that he himself frequently expresses the same doubts. I think it due to him to mention this, especially as having been personally acquainted with him and enjoyed his hospitality, when I am now about to assail his arguments in the articles referred to, even to removing the terms given from the history of armour.

The village of Durrington is situate on the right bank of the river Avon, about three miles north of Amesbury; the village of Bulford, where the military camp is, being on the other side of the river.

There are two manors in the parish, which contains only 2,702 acres, the east end manor and the west end manor. It is to the east end manor that I am about to refer. In the thirteenth century it belonged to a family of the name of Nevill. I exhibit the counterpart of a grant of the manor by Hervey de Nevill to the nuns of Amesbury for the term of three years in consideration of forty marks down and twenty more in expectancy.

The cup exhibited by Lord Yarborough, and figured in the annexed plates, is a fine example of the silversmith's work of the time, and is of very special interest as having belonged to one of the most striking characters in modern history. The description of it is as follows.

The excavations upon this portion of the site have been in progress since 1901, but it was not till 1903 that they were carried so far as to enable the Committee to submit a report upon them.

The land which has been under examination there is the property of Lord Tredegar, F.S.A., and the greater part of the cost of the work has been defrayed by him. The Committee desire to take this opportunity of expressing their gratitude, and their appreciation of the great help which he has given towards the exploration of Caerwent. There is no doubt that much of the support which they have received is due to the example which he has set.

In the early autumn of the year 1903 it became known that during the demolition of Newgate Prison, and while the soil was being excavated for fresh foundations, important remains of the Eoman wall of London had gradually come to light.

On the 7th of October, when I first visited the scene, a piece about 20 feet long was visible, the soil to the south of it being completely dug out at the end and on each side to a depth of some feet below the level of the foundations. The beautiful yellow sand and gravel beneath were exposed to sight, and there was a fine opportunity of studying the structure, which, being more or less isolated and standing up to a considerable height, formed a picturesque object. (See Plate XV.) What made this view of the wall exceptionally interesting was that here one could see not only a transverse section, but the inner and the outer face of the wall, the former in excellent condition.

In July, 1902, one of the images on the upper part of the north tower at Wells suddenly fell to the ground and was broken into many pieces. There had not been any reason for supposing that this or any other of the many images that adorn the west front was in a dangerous condition, but the Dean and Chapter at once took the wise and prudent course of ordering an inspection of the images, so far as this could be done without scaffolding. The report of the Surveyor to the Chapter, Mr. Edmund Buckle, was far from reassuring, and he recommended the substitution of proper bronze holdfasts for the decaying iron cramps by which most of the images were then secured. As a consequence of this report the Dean and Chapter ordered a section of the work to be taken in hand, beginning with the north tower, and when this was finished the scaffolding was moved to another section, and so eventually across the whole of the front and to the gable of the nave. All the images have thus as far as possible been made safe, and a deep debt of gratitude is due to the Dean and Chapter for thus helping to prolong the lives of these priceless sculptures, many of which were found to be in a very precarious state.