Every thing that relates to the History and Institutions of this Country has strong claims upon the attention of the Society of Antiquaries; and I therefore do myself the honour of submitting for its consideration the accompanying Observations on the order of the Garter.

It has occurred to me that it might not altogether be uninteresting to you, or to the Society of Antiquaries, to receive, in as brief a space as the subject will admit of, a few remarks upon some of the Plates called Stall or Garter-Plates of the Knights of the Order of the Garter; which are or have been affixed in their Stalls in the Royal and Collegiate Chapel of Saint George at Windsor; I have, accordingly, the honour of submitting to you the following notices.

Though a variety of circumstances have deprived me of the pleasure of being for some time so useful a member of the Society of Antiquaries as I could desire, I venture once more to appear before them, through your kind intervention, with some Observations upon a singular Relic of antiquity in my neighbourhood, which has of late excited much curiosity among visitors and tourists; and I hope that some account of it miy prove not uninteresting to our Society.

A Large portion of the following observations was read in the Historical Section at the meeting of the British Archaeological Association at Canterbury, on the 13th of September, 1844. The great object of that meeting, and the one to promote which we are all associated together, is the preservation of historical monuments of every description, and among these there are none of more importance than written records. The cromlech and the barrow, by their contents, give us some insight into the manners of a people whose history is lost in the darkness of primaeval fable. The monuments of a later period, more numerous and far more varied in their character, necessarily furnish a greater number of facts; but even the information they convey would be exceedingly imperfect—a few scattered links only out of a long disjointed chain—had we no written documents to fill up the interval and to connect them together. It is indeed to these written documents that we must look for history itself; the others, although of an importance which cannot be too much insisted upon, being but secondary to them.

In the valuable collection of Original Letters edited by Sir Henry Ellis (Vol. II. second Series), I observe two in 1569 and 1570 from Lady Stanhope to Sir William Cecill, respecting the unhappy marriage of her daughter with Mr. afterwards Sir John Hotham of Scorborough in Yorkshire, and also Sir John's letter to Cecill, as “Master of the Wards and Lyveries,” defending himself, and in which he expatiates on the “Stanhopes eville delinge many wayes,” but with less asperity than the lady, who not only reviles him, but, in fact, the whole county of York, and says “especially in Yorkshire, where he may suborne men and women to say what he listeth to serve his devilishe purpose.” The lady had purchased the wardship of Hotham, and married him to her daughter, but it appears that after all it was a bad bargain, as she had not purchased his love.

In connection with the history of the shire of Kent, in which we are now assembled, I offer the following Observations, illustrative of the succession to the Barony of William of Arques, i. e. de Arcis, in this realm, during the medieval period of time between the Conquest of England and the reign of King John. In that invaluable record, Domesday Book, which commences with the survey of Kent, we read, under the general heading “Land of the Bishop of Bayeux,” this entry, as to the tenure in that shire of William de Arcis: “In Limowart Lest, in Fulchestan Hundred, William de Arcis holds Fulchestan. In the time of King Edward it was avouched for 40 solins, and now for 39. There is land of 120 ploughs. In the demesne are 14 ploughs, and there are 209 villani and 83 bordarii. Amongst them all they have 45 ploughs.

When we were discussing the meaning of the phrase double maille, I earnestly advised you, when you next visited York, to examine the monumental effigy of De Mauley, in the north aisle of the chancel of the Minster. I repeated this counsel to my friends George Shaw, Esq., architect, and Thomas William King, Esq., Rouge Dragon Pursuivant at Arms, as they were about to proceed to that city. My surprise was great on being informed by both that no such figure could be found, and that the attendants in the cathedral did not seem to know anything about it.

Amongst the important operations which the precarious state of many parts of Hereford Cathedral required, the strengthening of the foundations of the range of Norman piers running throughout the church, from the east end of the choir to the west of the nave, was found to be absolutely necessary, not only in those parts immediately circumjacent to the main piers of the central tower, but in several other portions. This has been achieved by the excavation of the earth to the depth of nine or ten feet, and the filling up of the cavities so laid open with concrete. In the course of this process many very curious and interesting discoveries have been made, both in the architectural department and in the disclosure of ancient remains, which at some future time may not be unworthy of a more detailed account. On the present occasion I propose to confine my remarks to two objects which claim particular notice—namely, two Episcopal Rings, which were discovered in the following manner:

I beg to inclose the drawing, made by our friend Mr. J. B. Fitz-Gerald, of a Vase of red Roman ware discovered at Chester Field, in the parish of Sandy, nine miles from Bedford, in digging a potato trench. It was found in the month of September of the present year, and is now in the collection of the British Museum.

The various fictile Græco-Italian vases found northward of Rome, as well as those of Southern Italy, are decorated with subjects, the interest of which is chiefly mythological.

If the legends of the Iliad, the traditions of the Poets of the Epic Cycle, and the narratives of the return of the Greeks from the Siege of Troy, be placed without the pale of history, there are but few vases representing subjects which can be considered historical.

A cylix of fine ware, with red figures upon a black background, acquired from the Princess de Canino by the British Museum, has, on one side, a combat of warriors, the principal of whom is named Menelaus, MENELEOΣ. The reverse represents a naked youth whose head is crowned, with a garment thrown across his shoulders, leading a horse in each hand by a bridle. Above the head of this figure is inscribed ΠΛEXΣIΠΠOΣ (πλήξιππος.)

In the church of Avenbury, a village situated near Bromyard, in the county of Hereford, on the confines of Worcestershire, a curious sepulchral memorial is preserved, of which, as far as I am aware, no description or representation has been given. The county of Hereford, hitherto little visited by persons whose researches are directed to architectural and monumental antiquities, presents a rich field for observation in the interesting details which are to be found in the churches,—such as sepulchral effigies, painted glass, and sculpture; antiquities of every period, the greater part of which have remained unnoticed, are also to be found in various parts of the county, and they well deserve careful investigation.

I Have great gratification in laying before the British Archæological Association the rubbing of an inscription, taken by Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson, from a Vase deposited in the Treasury of St. Mark, at Venice, which, at his request, I communicate on the present occasion.

Being recently on a visit to my friend Sir George Musgrave, Bart. F.S.A., of Edenhall, in Cumberland, I found he had become possessed of a number of Roman relics from Kirkby Thore, a parish on the high road between Appleby and Penrith. Some of these are of considerable local interest; and as so few particulars of the early military transactions of the Romans in Cumberland and Westmoreland are known, every additional ray of light becomes valuable to history and chronology. I therefore beg to exhibit a sample of these relics to the Society, by Sir George's kind permission, and to add a word or two in general illustration.

The remarkable Monument of antiquity which gives its name to the Vale of White Horse in Berkshire, has not, I believe, attracted the particular attention of any antiquary since 1738, when the Rev. Francis Wise published his “Letter to Dr. Mead, concerning some Antiquities in Berkshire,” &c.; or, perhaps I should rather say, since 1742, the date of his second work upon the subject, entitled “Further Observations upon the White Horse and other Antiquities in Berkshire,” &c.

The range of hills lying north by west of Bradford, separating the valleys of the rivers Wharfe and Aire, form an extremely interesting field of research. Plans and sketches have been made so as to include a sufficient extent of its more interesting features, and to point out the traces of the Brigantian tribes who once inhabited its wastes. Although these traces agree in their general character with the British earth-works already so carefully examined in the southern counties, yet they have some local peculiarities in their form, structure, and appearances, which render them worthy of attention. To thoroughly investigate them, in order to gain some little additional light (however trifling) upon the history of the brave races who, in these their mountain passes, so long resisted the disciplined troops of the Roman empire, would require much more time and patient attention than my duties during my visit to your neighbourhood allowed me to devote to them. I can therefore merely offer you a cursory view of their nature and character, in the hope that a more able mind may be led to bestow upon them that attention which the interest attached to them appears to me to merit.

Immediately after I had replied to your letter, inclosing a communication from Mr. Forster of Bow, respecting a leaden coffin recently discovered by his workmen, I was favoured with a visit from Mr. E. Stock, of Poplar, for the express purpose of inviting me to accompany him to inspect the relic.

I beg leave to present to the Society of Antiquaries the accompanying drawings, executed by Mrs. Vernon Harcourt, of some Antiquities recently discovered on the estate of Leyland Woods, Esq. near his residence at Chilgrove, in the county of Sussex, about five miles from Chichester: they consist partly of vessels intended to hold liquors, and partly of female ornaments, bracelets, and rings. Three of the Vessels are of glass (See Pl. IX.), one of which has been broken most unfortunately, for the glass is much clearer than in the others, and it is curiously ornamented with a linked pattern. The others are of coarse clay, without inscriptions, or any elaborate ornament. I am aware that vessels of this sort have been found in such abundance that they might scarcely seem to deserve the notice of the Society, were I not desirous to discuss the question which has been raised, whether they are of British or of Roman origin. The former opinion rests upon the assertion, that glass is more a British than a Roman manufacture, and that it does not occur in Roman sepulchres; that the earthenware vessels display no refinement of art, and while they are too large for lachrymatories, they are too small for cinerary urns; that the ornaments are evidently of British manufacture; for I found by an analysis of some fragments, that one hundred grains contained sixty-eight of copper and twenty-eight of tin, the rest being earth accidentally mixed with them, and zinc to the amount of less than a grain: there were traces of iron, but nothing more. Copper and tin are the chief mineral products of this island. And, lastly, that the bodies near which they were found, had been interred instead of burnt.

The observations of Mr. Gwilt relative to the Church of St. Mary-le-Bow, in the City of London, and its Saxon or Norman Crypt, published in the fifth volume of the Vetusta Monumenta, with the very accurate illustrative Engravings, excited much interest in relation to the structure; but it is not generally known that there exist, in its immediate neighbourhood, subterranean architectural remains, although evidently of a later date, yet of a very interesting character.

I have much pleasure in communicating to you, on behalf of the Society of Antiquaries, the following observations which have lately been made in the course of our operations at the New Houses of Parliament, or, more properly, at her Majesty's Palace at Westminster. Having had occasion to remove a portion of the old Crypt of St. Stephen's Chapel during the past summer to make way for the new buildings now in progress, sundry curious and beautiful remains were discovered, which I have thought desirable should become the subject of the accompanying sketches, and which I have much pleasure in presenting to the Society, together with a small capital of one of the columns, and an ancient key of singular shape found in the excavations.