I beg to lay before the Society of Antiquaries a copy of the Inventory of the Goods of Archbishop Parker, exhibited by his son, John Parker, esq., as executor, in 1577. The original is on a roll of parchment (consisting of nine pieces) seventeen feet and a quarter in length, by seven inches and a quarter in breadth, and is in a state of complete preservation.

It gives me very sincere pleasure to be able to offer you undeniable confirmation of the justice of my views respecting the Runic Obelisk at Ruthwell. I would not, indeed, have you suppose that I ever entertained the slightest doubt of having seized the general sense of the inscription; but, taking into consideration the fragmentary state of the legend itself, as well as the abrasion of many characters, which justified, indeed rendered necessary, a somewhat bold method of proceeding, I could not venture to hope that I had entirely escaped errors, which are in some degree inseparable from conjectural criticism. From the peculiar form of the Runic characters, which consist principally of straight lines and angles, they are especially liable to confusion when the slightest portion is abraded by age: and this is the case with the Ruthwell inscription in a very great degree. The task of restoring readings so injured by lapse of time, though not a hopeless, might fairly be considered a difficult one; and in this conviction, I was prepared to admit the probability that better versions than my own might at some time be substantiated. Circumstances have, however, now placed within my reach a complete, though modern, copy of the whole inscription, parts of which it cost me so much serious labour to decypher: and it is highly satisfactory to discover that in almost all the details of interpretation, I was proceeding upon sound and safe grounds. This naturally affords a gratification of a far higher character than the mere selfish pleasure derived from any personal feeling: and it is in the hope that some of your readers may be induced to bestow attention upon a system whose results are so strongly confirmed by further experience, that I again bring the subject before your notice.

I have had drawings made of the principal objects found in opening tumuli on Breach Downs, in this county, during the months of September and October, of the present year. Should you consider them of sufficient interest to exhibit to the Society of Antiquaries, you have my entire permission to do so.

The various groups of tumuli in the eastern parts of Kent are well known to our English antiquaries; and it is a fact pretty generally established, that they are referable to a period extending from the time of the abandonment of this Island by the Romans (and perhaps earlier) down to the establishment of Christianity, when it became the practice to inter the dead in some consecrated place, within the precincts of the church. To this period belong the numerous barrows on Barham Downs, near Canterbury; and the excavations recently made by Lord Albert Conyngham in the group on Breach Downs, adjacent to the village of Barham, prove that they also are of the same age.

I have the honor to exhibit to the Society of Antiquaries four plaster Casts of figures in alto relievo, from the south door of Kilpeck church, in Herefordshire. Two represent Apostles, holding the book of the Gospels, and a cross, with a nimbus at the back of each head: the other two are the effigies of Welsh Knights.

I send you a transcript of a paper which I am surprised not to find published in any of the printed collections of State Trials. It possesses sufficient importance, both historical and legal, to have entitled it to a place in those collections; but, as it has not been noticed by their editors, nor, as far as I know, been printed elsewhere, it may be thought worthy of a place in the Archseologia. It has reference to some very important transactions in the reign of queen Elizabeth, and relates to persons and families who were themselves of considerable name, and the immediate descendants of some of whom were connected with subsequent events of still greater interest; it is, moreover, one of the most minute accounts we possess of a proceeding ore tenus in the star-chamber, and records the opinions of the highest legal officers of that day upon some important questions in constitutional law. In the expectation that these circumstances will be thought sufficient to entitle this paper to a place in the transactions of the Society of Antiquaries, I shall preface it with some observations upon the persons and events with which it is connected.

I beg to lay upon the table of the Society of Antiquaries, the Casts of eight Punic Inscriptions, which have been sent me from Copenhagen, by M. De Falbe, captain in the Danish navy, and formerly Consul General of Denmark at Tunis, who was the principal originator of a Society for making Researches on the site of Carthage, for which purpose he returned to Africa in 1837.

About three years ago my attention was first drawn to the fact, that the Stones both inside and outside numerous ancient buildings in England bore in many cases a peculiar mark or symbol, which was evidently the work of the original builders. It immediately occurred to me, that these Marks, if extensively examined and compared, might serve to aid in connecting, and perhaps discriminating, the various bands of operatives, who, under the protection of the Church, mystically united, spread themselves over Europe during the middle ages, and are known as the Free Masons.

The attention of every one who has been interested in researches into the Sepulchral Antiquities, either of the classical or the medieval period, must have been called to observe the wanton recklessness with which the memorials of one generation have been displaced to make way for those of a succeeding age, and the materials appropriated to the purposes of the occasion. Numerous are the instances that might be cited, where sepulchral brasses have thus been sacrilegiously perverted from their original purpose; indeed, among the limited number of memorials of this kind, of which, by their having been detached from the monumental slab, the reverse can be seen, the number of those which are found to be engraved on both sides is proportionally so large, that it might be assumed that the greater part of our sepulchral brasses would be found, were it possible to ascertain the fact, made up of fragments of prior memorials of the dead. In cases of this kind the term Palimpsest Brass seems to be not an inappropriate designation. An example that has recently been supplied from the church of Hedgerley, in Buckinghamshire, is so far interesting from the station of the individual, whose memorial has, after being for three centuries lost in concealment, now been brought to light, that I am inclined to think it may deserve to be brought under the notice of the Society.

In a field, called “the Warren,” (part of the property of Sir Joseph Hawley, Bart, of Leybourne Grange, in the co. of Kent,) situated at the southern boundary of the parish of Gayton, and bordering upon the parish of Blisworth, the plough had oft-times been impeded by large stones, evidencing the traces of some old building. In the month of February 1840, the occupier of the field, desirous of removing this obstacle to his agriculture, and wanting stones for the under-draining of the land in various parts of his farm, employed labourers to dig up a portion of these foundations. During the progress of the work were discovered sundry Roman coins, a silver fibula, many fragments of Roman tiles and pottery, (some of the latter plain, some tastefully figured,) and a small bronze statue of Cupid in a dancing attitude, formerly (as it should seem) holding a wreath, suspended between his two hands, as supplied in the annexed sketch.

Mr. William Henry Rolfe, of Sandwich, has kindly placed in my hands, for the inspection of the Society, a variety of interesting remains, found within the last few years at Gilton, Coombe, Woodnesborough, and Richborough.

The golden ornaments which you will receive to-morrow evening to exhibit to the Society of Antiquaries, should you consider them sufficiently interesting, I have numbered 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6. (Plate XII.)

The first five were accidentally found by a labouring man about a fortnight since, within a few yards of the entrance to the caves at New Grange. They were at the depth of two feet from the surface of the ground, and without any covering or protection from the earth about them. Another labouring man, hearing of this discovery, carefully searched the spot whence they were taken, and found a denarius of Geta, and two other coins of small brass, but quite defaced ; they are all in my possession.

The public curiosity has been much roused by Stevens's recent work on Central America, as well as by the late visit of Mr. Walker and Captain Caddy of the Artillery, to Palenque, and other ancient cities in that quarter.

I have the honour to acquaint your Lordship, as President of the Society of Antiquaries, that, having been lately on service in the gulph of Mexico, whilst laying off the island of Sacrificios, I caused several excavations to be made there, and succeeded in digging up various articles of pottery, idols, and musical instruments; amongst other specimens, are three or four types, or signets, with hieroglyphics, which may perhaps throw some light on the origin of the Mexicans, or the still more ancient race that preceded them.

One of the most remarkable existing specimens of the class of art to which, from the peculiar Oriental character which marks either the general design, or the accessary details, the distinctive name of Byzantine has been assigned, is submitted to the inspection of the Society of Antiquaries, by the obliging permission of the proprietor, Colonel Theubet, of Porrentruy, Canton of Berne. It is a golden tabula, which was presented at the commencement of the eleventh century to the Cathedral of Basle, as a votive offering for the decoration of the altar, by the Emperor Henry II. who had raised that structure from ruins, and bestowed upon it numerous rich ornaments, of which one, a precious crucifix, containing a fragment of the true cross, has recently been presented to the Cathedral of Cologne by his Majesty the King of Prussia. The tabula is formed, as it is stated, of cedar-wood, covered with a thin coating of pure gold; the design, which in some parts is in very high relief, being hammered out, or, as it is technically termed, repoussé, and worked up with the tool and burnisher. Its value has been rated in the old Chronicle of Basle at 73000 gulden, “septem aureorum millia” called by another writer “florenorum,” or gold crowns.

Having some years ago communicated to the Society of Antiquaries, in a letter addressed to you, certain documents relating to sir Thomas More, you will, perhaps, allow me again to trouble you upon a subject connected with that illustrious sufferer for conscience-sake.

Amongst some old books and papers belonging to the Office of Ordnance in the Tower to which I have access, there is one which contains copies of numerous Letters received by Sir Henry Witherington, Knt. Marshal of Berwick, between November 1581 and November 1592. These Letters are principally from Lord Hunsdon as Governor of Berwick; but there are others from Sir Francis Walsingham, from the Earl of Essex, and from the King of Scotland. This book is in the hand-writing of the period named.

I have the honour of laying before the Society of Antiquaries, for their inspection this evening, a drawing of the celebrated Sandal-wood Gates of Somnath; it has been made from some elaborate sketches taken by Lieut.-Col. Luard in the camp of Loodiana, in January last. Independently of the historical interest which these gates possess, they merit consideration from the beauty of their design and execution, proving the high state of art among the Hindoos at the remote period of their construction,—they are probably one thousand years old.

Previous to describing the interesting remains discovered by Mr. Fellows, in Lycia, in the years one thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine and one thousand eight hundred and forty, and subsequently removed by the British Government, and deposited in the National Collection, it will be necessary to understand the variety of art exhibited on these marbles, and to take a succinct view of the vicissitudes experienced by the races which occupied the valley of the Xanthus. The manner in which the marbles were removed has been already announced elsewhere to the public; and the present Dissertation is only intended to consider them in respect to art, mythology, and the local history of the Xanthians.

A few loose remarks on the political condition of the agricultural population of our island under the Saxon rule, as well as under the sterner oppression of the Norman feudal aristocracy, will, perhaps, not be uninteresting to the Members of our Society. It is a subject which in general has been but superficially treated; the humble cottager, forgotten amid the great events which have appropriated to themselves the page of history, seems to have little claim upon our attention. Yet there were few social movements in which he did not share, at least as a sufferer; and there were many, which, without a knowledge of his true social position, are now but partially understood. It is not generally known that the rural population of England is not only the representative of a class of slaves, but that it is originally by blood of a different race from the pure Anglo-Saxon stock.

In a well-known passage of his “Ecclesiastical History,” Bede observes that the eastern extremity of the wall of Antoninus was called by the Picts Peannfahel, and by the Anglo-Saxons Peneltun. The latter would lead us to expect a modern Pendleton; but no such name is known in the district. There is some disagreement among antiquaries as to the precise point where the vallum actually terminated. The common opinion places it at Caerriden or Carriden, adjoining the æstuary of the Forth in Linlithgowshire, chiefly on the ground of the vestiges found there of a Roman fort or station. Though Horsley does not formally controvert this opinion, it is evident that he thought there were serious objections against it, which it will be best to state in his own words:—