sphere. 4. "On a Digraphic Inscription found at Larnaca," by D. Pierides. The inscription, which is unfortunately much mutilated, is properly to be called digraphic, as the language is the same throughout, only written in Greek and Cypriote characters respectively. It appears to have been a votive inscription incised by the order of "Stasias, the prince, son of Stasicrates, King of Soli, both of whom it mentions. Beside the digraphic texts there are the remains of a later Greek inscription, which is nearly unintelligible. 5. "On the Four Races in the Egyptian representations of the Last Judgment," by E. Lefébure.-This paper was chiefly an account of several Tableaux which occur on the famous Sarcophagus of Seti I. now in the Soane Museum. The text, here translated for the first time, consists of the addresses of the representatives of the four divisions of mankind to the deity Ra at the entrance of the ker neter, and of his several replies to them. The progress of the deity along the heavenly Nile is then related, and the rewards of the justified are ascribed to

them.

ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY (Wednesday, April 7).

THE President, H. C. Sorby, Esq., F.R.S., in the Chair. A paper on "Further Researches into the Life History of Monads," by Mr. W. H. Dallinger and Dr. Drysdale, was taken as read, after a brief statement of its contents by the Secretary. It was ordered to be printed in the Monthly Microscopical Journal, and a discussion upon it will take place at the next meeting, May 5. Some of the facts mentioned in this paper will be found under the head of "Microscopical Notes."

The President read an elaborate paper on

"The

Use of the Microspectroscope," describing the apparatus employed and the indications obtained. Ile advised the use of a binocular microscope for many objects, and showed the position of the prisms and the illuminating apparatus required for this purpose. To explain the character of various spectra, he employed a drawing of the solar spectrum to which moveable representations of absorption bands could be attached. He found that the positions of those bands were best registered by using the quartz plate he recommended long since, though for special purposes Browning's micrometer was very efficient. The wave lengths at the centres of each band should be noted, and he intended to publish charts which would make this easy. When a substance gave several absorption bands, it was important to observe the numerical relations of their several wave lengths, and what displacements, or changes, took place upon the addition of acid or alkaline reagents, oils, &c. Many illustrations were given to show that these relations of wave lengths in the various spectra afforded indications of chemical constitution, the presence of particular substances, and the molecular conditions of the bodies examined. It would be impossible to do justice to the paper by a brief summary, but it will be found when published in the Society's Transactions to be a most important contribution to the study of molecular physics as well indicating new methods of analysis. Mr. Sorby announced that he would exhibit and explain his methods at a scientific evening, to be held by the Society at King's College on the 21st inst.

NEW SHAKSPERE SOCIETY (Friday, April 9). A. J. ELLIS, Esq., in the Chair. The names of a dozen new members were announced. Miss L. Toulmin Smith read a paper on the story of the bond in the Merchant of Venice, which she had found in the Cursor Mundi of the end of the thirteenth century, earlier than any appearance of it in English hitherto noted. She traced its recurrence in various versions, down to the time of Shakspere.

Mr. James Spedding's paper "On the Corrected Edition of Richard III.," was read by Mr. Fur

nivall. Mr. Spedding's object was to establish, as against the editors of the Cambridge Shakspere, that the version of the play in the first folio is the genuine work of Shakspere. Its defects, he urged, are due either to the carelessness of printers, or to their difficulty in reading a manuscript which had undergone many corrections. The other differences between the folio and quarto are such as may reasonably be attributed to a revision by Shakspere himself, and it is needless to suppose the existence of a transcriber "who worked in the spirit, though not with the audacity, of Colley Cibber."

Mr. Matthew gave an account of a paper on the same subject in the Year-book of the German Shakspere Society, by Professor Delius, who was present at the meeting. Professor Delius, while recognising the folio as the genuine text, does not believe that it was ever revised. He looks upon it as representing (printer's errors apart) the original text of Shakspere. The first quarto, he thinks, was printed from an imperfect copy, obtained by underhand means, and dressed up for publication by some unknown person.

Dr. Nicholson gave some instances from the quartos of Henry V. of the manner in which texts were mutilated in their passage through the press. He did not, like Professor Delius, think it improbable that Shakspere should have revised

and altered his work.

dwelt strongly on the faulty readings of the folio After some remarks by Mr. Pickersgill, who as compared with those of the quarto, Mr. Aldis Wright said that the choice between the different texts of Shakspere was a difficult matter. He read a part of the preface to the play in the Cambridge edition to show that the editors had not spoken with over much confidence. He could not believe that Shakspere had gone through his work, altering a word here and a letter there, as Mr. Spedding represented him; he was quite sure that ferable to those of the folio, and were therefore a large majority of the quarto readings were preShakspere's.

Folio of King Lear was taken as read.
Professor Delius's paper on the Quarto and

American or the English method. Captain Noble announced that having had another opportunity of looking at Uranus he found it had returned to its original hue.

ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY (Monday,
April 12).

THE paper read last Monday was an account of Mr. John Forrest's journey across the centre of Western Australia. Sir Henry Rawlinson, in his opening remarks, observed that Mr. Forrest had travelled to the south of the line followed by

Colonel Warburton, but the two accounts of the country corresponded fairly one with another. It forms a vast plain, covered with spinifex and almost entirely devoid of water. This circumstance impeded the progress of the travellers, and occasioned much suffering both to them and the horses, several of which died en route. About 129 E. longitude, and in the neighbourhood of the Musgrave Range, the country improves, and not far from here the travelling party crossed the routes of Messrs. Giles and Gosse. Several attacks were made by natives on the explorers, who were compelled on

one or two occasions to use their rifles in selfdefence.

The Chairman said that Mr. Forrest's journey,

though it lay through a most inhospitable region, was important, as it was something to find that the country was not available for agriculture or colonisation.

Sir George Bowen, Governor of Victoria, then addressed the meeting in a most humorous speech, and remarked on the fact that he knew nothing of West Australia, but had been for sixteen years on the eastern side. He was of opinion that the heat of the western part of the island of itself would form no obstacle to sheep-farming, as it was predicted that this would be found to be a hindrance to the growth of wool at Geelong, and yet there were now 6,000,000 sheep there. He had had the pleasure of dining with the Messrs. Forrest at Melbourne, and found that their priva tions and difficulties had not made much impression on them, as they were both in excellent preservation.

Mr. Markham then read an abstract of a paper on the overland route from Pangrani to Mombasa, on the East Coast of Africa, by Mr. New, a missionary, who has since succumbed to a severe attack of dysentery. Neither this paper nor a short account of the progress of Colonel Gordon's expedition on the Upper Nile, calls for any remark.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE (Tuesday,

April 13).

ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY (Friday, April 9). PROFESSOR CAYLEY, one of the Vice-Presidents, in the Chair. A paper by Lord Lindsay was read, in which the author gave an account of his careful determination of the longitude of Mauritius in connexion with his expedition to that island to observe the transit of Venus; and Sir George Airy then described briefly the operations for fixing the longitudes of the stations in Egypt (which had served Lord Lindsay as a COLONEL A. LANE Fox, President, in the Chair. starting-point), the stretch from Cornwall to Alex- Professor Rolleston, M.D., F.R.S., read a paper on andria (3,200 miles without a break) being the "The People of the Long-Barrow Period." The longest yet accomplished, and the determination author commenced by stating that it was on all probably the most accurate hitherto made. Mr. hands acknowledged that the Long Barrows were J. M. Wilson communicated a paper on the the oldest existing sepulchral monuments in relative motion of the two stars of 61 Cygni (re- Great Britain. He then proceeded to point out: markable for their large proper motion and com- 1. The evidence existing that enabled him to parative proximity to us), the result arrived at divide the Long-Barrow period into three epochs being essentially the same as that obtained recently In the earliest epoch the dead were interred unby M. Flammarion, though the two investigations burnt in chambers; i.e., in graves, walled with were quite independent. While modifying the upright flags, and communicating with the exdirection of motion found by Struve from terior. In those chambers was found the greatest early observations, Mr. Wilson considers that amount of discoloration from oxide of manganese there is no sensible deviation from a straight line. In the second period the dead were still interred Mr. Proctor sent a note on Transit of Venus unburnt, but in cists, i.e., in closed stone recep Photography in reply to Captain Abney's com- tacles, not intended to be re-opened, and having parison of the English and American methods, the no gallery leading to the exterior. The third point urged being that in the former the scale of epoch was distinguished by the practice of cremaeach photograph cannot be determined. Sir tion, which might be supposed to link the Long George Airy objected to the introduction of such and Broad Periods together. 2. The evidence for irrelevant matters as reports of conversations into accepting what might be termed the Ossuary a scientific paper, and expressed his opinion that theory, for explaining the appearances met with Mr. Proctor's note had not added anything of value in the Long Barrows rather than the theory of to the state of this question. In fact Mr. Proctor's successive interments, as put forward by Professor objection appears to be founded on a complete mis- Nilsson, or the theory of human sacrifices, as proapprehension of the means available for determin-posed by the late Dr. Thurnam. 3. The evidence ing the scale of photographs whether taken by the as to the mode of life prevalent in the Long

Barrow Period which the cranial and other bones of the persons burnt or buried in them furnish.

Mr. Bertram F. Hartshorne exhibited and described objects of Prehellenic age from Troy.

ROYAL SOCIETY (Thursday, April 15). THE following papers were read :-" On the Development of the Teeth of Fishes, Elasmobranchii and Teleostei," by C. S. Tomes; "Researches on the Specific Volumes of Liquids. I. On the Atomic Value of Phosphorus," by T. E. Thorpe.

FINE ART.

TAPESTRY OF ARRAS AND LILLE.

Les Tapisseries d'Arras, Etude artistique et historique. Par M. le chanoine E. van Drival. viii and 196 pages. 8vo. (Arras, 1864.)

Les Tapisseries de Haute-lisse: Histoire de la Fabrication Lilloise du xiv au xviiie siècle,

et Documents inédits concernant l'Histoire des

Tapisseries de Flandre. Par Jules Houdoy. 160 pages. 8vo. (Lille, 1871.) Tapisseries représentant la Conqueste du Royaulme de Thunes par l'Empereur Charles-Quint. Par Jules Houdoy. 34 pages. 8vo. (Lille, 1873.)

VERY little has yet been published concerning the history of the manufacture of tapestry during the Middle Ages. M. van Drival's volume is, I believe, the first attempt at a history of the Arras manufacture, and as such presents a certain interest. Its value is, however, diminished by two great defects: first, the entire absence of new matter,* the book being made up from materials already in print, no doubt diligently got together, but without any discrimination as to the relative value of the sources quoted; secondly, the author's strong local prejudices, which often lead him to claim for his native town the manufacture of works that were doubtedly executed elsewhere, such as the eight pieces representing the History of Gideon and his Fleece (p. 100), made at Tournay by Robert Davy and John de 'Ortye after the cartoons of Baldwin of Bailleul; the well-known Glorification of Justice, belonging to Charles the Bold (pp. 107-114), now at Berne; and the series executed at Brussels after Raphael's cartoons (p. 154). The volume would have been of far greater interest if M. van Drival had given us a collection of authentic documents from the archives of Arras.

un

M. Houdoy's excellent books leave little to be desired either in their matter or their zet up. He has set to work in the right way, and having carefully gone through the town accounts of Lille from 1317 to 1792, and a number of other registers and papers, he has extracted everything he could find concerning the manufacture of tapestry in that town. The materials thus collected form the groundwork of his books, into the text of which are woven such documents, or portions of documents, as appeared to be worth publishing, these being printed verbatim, the remainder analysed or merely mentioned. Undoubtedly this is the right system, and it is to be hoped that some one will * Perhaps a safe-conduct granted in 1543 by Charles V. to several citizens of Arras is here given (p. 165) for the first time.

do the same at Arras, Tournay, Bruges, Brussels, Audenaerde, Alost, Louvain, Antwerp, Mechlin, Ghent, Enghien, Binche, Ath, Valenciennes, and Bethune; then, and not until then, will there be a sure basis for writing a history of the manufacture of tapestry in the Low Countries.

When, in 1367, the magistrates of Lille determined on making a present of tapestry to Charles V. of France as a token of gratitude for the reunion of their city to the county of Flanders, they entrusted its execution to one Vincent Bourselle, of Arras; hence one may fairly conclude that there was at that date no manufacturer of note at Lille. Indeed, there is no proof of tapestry-weavers being established in the town until thirty years later, in 1398; this, however, is nearly a century earlier than the date given by M. Derode in his History of Lille (vol. i. p. 352). The first tapestry weavers mentioned as having settled in the town were natives of Arras; later on, in 1412, we find others coming from Saint-Denis and from Paris. In 1424, the local magistrates, for the first

time, purchase tapestry made at Lille. In 1460 there occurs an entry in the town accounts of a payment, annually renewed, for the hire of tapestry cartoons and tapestry to adorn the Halles on the day of the procession and festival of the Behourt. In 1468, we find Charles the Bold giving orders for the execution of tapestry to two manufacturers at Lille. In 1476, one Peter Dujardin, found guilty of having substituted linen for silk thread in a piece of tapestry made by him, a fraud denounced by the authorities of the corporation as likely to injure the reputation of their manufacture, was condemned to go on a pilgrimage to S. Mary Magdalene at La Baume, in Provence, and on his return from thence to Utrecht; he was, however, allowed, in lieu of the former, to pay for six thousand bricks to be used in the fortifications of the town. Another fraud was the use of paint to heighten the effect of tapestry, such tinting being permitted by the regulations of the corporation to be applied only to the faces, hands, and bare flesh. The fraud gave rise to great complaint, and led to the issue of a decree by the Governor of the Low Countries, strictly prohibiting any such tapestry being sold, or exposed for sale, under pain of confiscation. This decree was not publicly proclaimed, but, to avoid scandal, was in each town communicated by the magistrates to the master tapestry-weavers, who were called together to hear it read. Thus we know that there were at Lille, on March 15, 1539, twenty-six master tapestry weavers, but no dealer in tapestry, which the manufacturers at that time sent to Antwerp to be sold. The weavers, it seems, accused the dealers of being the parties guilty of prac tising the fraud of tinting. Another malpractice of the dealers was changing the marks, for all tapestry made in the Low Countries bore on the border either the mark or name of the weaver, and the arms or other mark of the town in which it was executed.

In 1544, Charles V. issued a uniform code of rules for all the corporations of tapestry weavers in the Low Countries, of which M. Houdoy gives a careful analysis. He omits, however, to mention that before drawing up this code Charles appointed a commission

to examine and consult the principal weavers of each town, and there can be little doubt that the Lille records, just as those of other towns, mention this.

M. Houdoy occasionally goes beyond the limits he had at first proposed, and gives unpublished notes concerning tapestry executed in other towns. One of them (p. 67) informs us that a series of ten pieces of tapestry, representing the defeat of the Spanish Armada by the English and Dutch under Lord Howard in 1588, was executed by Francis Speering after the designs of Henry Vroom, of Haarlem.

The art of weaving tapestry appears to have died out at Lille about 1580, and was not revived until 1625, when Vincent van Quickelberghe, of Audenaerde, settled there, after having made an unsuccessful attempt to establish himself at Arras. In 1634, Caspar van Caeneghem, of Audenaerde, removed to Lille with eighteen workmen. Their work, however, does not appear to have been of a high class; George Blommaert of Audenaerde, who settled in Lille

before 1677, but removed to Beauvais about

1684; the Pannemackers, from Brussels, 1684 to 1750; John de Melter, of Brussels, and his son-in-law, William Wernier, 1688-1778; and Francis Bouché, 1740-1768, were the best makers at Lille in their time. Five pieces by the last-named weaver, representing the story of Venus, are in the possession of Captain Leyland.

The last Lille manufacturer was one Stephen Deyrolle, who stopped working about 1782. His descendants were employed in the royal manufacture of the Gobelins.

M. Hondoy's second pamphlet relates to the twelve celebrated pieces of tapestry representing the conquest of the kingdom of Tunis by Charles V., executed 15491554, by William Pannemaker, of Lille, after the cartoons of John Vermay, of Brussels, designer of the well-known tombs in the church of Brou executed for Margaret of Austria. The contracts, published at length, are full of interesting details.

M. Houdoy is mistaken in supposing that no paintings of Vermay's have come down to our time. I believe that the very series of paintings representing the Conquest of Tunis are now in Germany. They were sent to London to be restored some years ago, and permission was then obtained, through the late Prince Consort, to have them photographed, and a copy of the series is preserved in the Print Department of the British Museum. W. H. JAMES WEALE.

THE FRENCH EXHIBITION.

(Second Notice.)

German Pictures.-The leading German contribution is one which is to be seen on the first floor of the Gallery, not mixed up in the general collection, and which is notified to visitors as The Head of our Saviour, the celebrated painting by Gabriel Max. Max is a Munich artist, and his picture, as we observe from a selection of press notices, was The treatment is peculiar. The head of Christ is recently exhibited in Berlin, with high laudation. simply the head and face, without anything else whatever; and it is shown as if lying or impressed upon a smooth napkin of Egyptian byssuslinen or mummy-cloth, slightly blood-stained and

1

G. Cattermole followed these. One of the most important of them was the well-known Benvenuto Cellini valuing one of his own Works to the Brigands. It realised 2837. 10s. Old English Hospitality fetched 4301. A chef-d'œuvre of Prout -Church of S. Pierre, Caen-realised 8407. This day's sale concluded with the purchase by Mr. Agnew of a large drawing of Fortuny's, A Moorish Carpet Warehouse, for 1,470l.

The Turners, William Hunts, George Barretts and Copley Fieldings were sold on Friday. Barrett's Harvest Moon fetched 1947. The highest price realised by a William Hunt was 7871. 108. His Devotion, which in Mr. Rucker's collection had sold for 5007., now fetched 4207. His fruit and flower pieces probably maintained their usual prices, but, it is evident, did not in the main exceed them. The collection of Turners, though numbering a few of his more elaborate works and one or two of his happiest slighter drawings, was not on the whole of remarkable quality, which accounts for the fact that the prices realised were not much in advance of those at other sales. His Leatherhead, a charming early drawing, sold for 421. His Sion-an exquisite later one-sold for the same money, and may be accounted singularly cheap. Heidelberg fetched 1,5221. 10s. The Oberwesel, put up at one thousand guineas, fell to Mr. Lane at 1,6277. 10s. It was sold in the

Windus collection some years ago for 400l., but was said to have cost Mr. Quilter 1,5007. There were some magnificent examples of Copley Fielding: the most magnificent being undoubtedly The Mull of Galloway, which sold for 1,732l. 10s.

Ox Saturday, besides the works of certain living artists, there were sold a few drawings by Robson, Varley, John Sell Cotman, and Bonington-few being among the best of these masters' works. The elaborate and marvellous watercolours of Mr. John Lewis fetched high prices. A School at Cairo fetched 1,2391.; Lilium Auratum, 1,0601.; The Prayer of Faith shall Heal the Sick, 1,1767. Mr. Quilter had himself given 1,000l. for this picture. But the chief interest of Saturday's sale lay apparently in the De Wints. Mr. Quilter possessed two or three of the most finished works of the artist, and though there are many who hold that De Wint is seen at his very best only in his quick sketches from nature, there are none who will deny the presence of great qualities in his capital works sold last Saturday. There were few of his slighter works last Saturday, but those that were there sold well. A tiny sepia drawing, The City Basin, fetched 27 guineas: another tiny sepia, Bognor (engraved, we believe, in the "Southern Coast" series) fetched 17 guineas. A little piece of still life sold for 21 guineas, and a farm-yard subject-originally one of the most perfect of these ever painted by the artist-fetched 480 guineas. Lord Charles Thynne has since written to declare that he possessed this drawing from 1830 to 1873, and that it must have been greatly retouched after it left his collection. Of the yet more elaborate drawings of De Wint, the Lancaster, started at 500 guineas, was knocked down at 905 guineas; and the Southall, Notts, rearsed no less than 1,650 guineas.

MESSI, SOTHEBY, WILKINSON, AND HODGE sold on Wednesday and Thursday week the collection of English pottery and porcelain formed by Mr. John J. Bagshawe, of Sheffield. It contained examples of early Staffordshire wares, Bow, Chelsea, Derby, and other well-known English manufactures, but was principally remarkable for fine examples of Wedgwood, which were numerous and choice-notably a fine plaque of jasper ware, blue ground, with the subject of "Diana reclining after the Chase," in bas relief. This brought 1717. Another, representing a Bacchanalian sacrifice, after Flaxmian, marked Wedgwood and Bently, 118.; another, with six figures of boys in relief, 517.; a vase of blue and white jasper, with figures of the Muses, 241.; a pair of oviform jasper vases,

a

with white classical subjects in relief, 301.; a vase has evidently been inserted for the purpose of of antique form in imitation of marble, 167. 168.; | giving greater light, and perhaps at the same time a pair of granite ware vases with handles and the narrow lancets were filled in. In the chancel festoons, in relief, 391.; a pair of medallions of are two remarkable effigies. The earlier and Dr. Franklin and General Lafayette, 291. Among larger figure is imperfect and is somewhat rudely the examples of other manufactories were carved out of the local sandstone. It represents Chelsea figure of Britannia seated on a lion, with a warrior clad in a tight-fitting jupon, beneath trophies, 317.; the same figure standing by a lion, which is a hauberk of chain mail extending almost 187. 10.; a Bow figure of a lioness, 8.; a sta- to the knees. A belt ornamented with roses entuette of Kitty Clive in white glazed Bow por- circles the hips, and from it depends on the right celain, 317.; four Derby figures of children re- side a dagger, and on the left a sword. The presenting the Seasons, with animals at their feet, helmet is conical and without vizor, and the gorget 137. The two days' sale realised 1,3657. of chain-mail is attached to the bassinet by staples and lace. The head of the figure rests upon a cushion, at each side of which a winged angel kneels, but neither crest nor plume is visible. It probably represents Walter de Bredwardine, who no doubt was a kinsman of Archbishop Bredwardine, the "Doctor Profundus" of Oxford, the army chaplain of Edward III., and the "bischop The later effigy in Bradwardyn" of Chaucer. alabaster is a very beautiful example of monumental art. The knight is represented as clad from head to foot in plate armour, the arms crossed on the breast, the hands elevated, and the head protected by an open conical bassinet. A tilting helmet forms the pillow, and suspended

AT a sale of sixty-eight modern pictures at the Hôtel Drouot a few days since, the following were among the most important items:-Corot, Orpheus, 12,100 fr.; Sleep of Diana, 11,000 fr.; Spring, 7,200 fr.: Eugène Delacroix, St. Sebastian, 17,900 fr.; Christ on the Lake of Genesareth, 17,500 fr.: J. Dupré, The Storm, 8,100 fr.; Branch of the Oise, 7,850 fr.: Fromentin, The Banks of the Nile, 13,300 fr.; Hawking, 11,000 fr.: Millet, Death and the Wood-Cutter, 20,000 fr.; The Little Goutherd Girl, 18,050 fr.: Th. Rousseau, The Sun Setting in Sologne, 24,100 fr.; Farm on the Bank of the Oise, 28,100 fr.; The Gorges of Apremont, 16,100 fr.: Roybet, The Page, 30,100 fr.: Stevens, L'Inde à Paris, 8,200 fr.; The Amazon, 7,300 fr.: Troyon, An Osier-Bed, 24,200 fr.; White Cow chased by a Dog, 10,400 fr.; Pastures near Trouville, 12,000 fr.

NOTES AND NEWS.

WE hear rumours of a projected exhibition of works of landscape art illustrative of the scenery of the New Forest, to be opened in May next under the auspices of the New Forest Defence Association. This scheme, which originates with a few public-spirited gentlemen, is set on foot with a view to making more widely known the varied and peculiar beauty of this delightful district, which, invaluable alike to all lovers of thoroughly English scenery and English art, is threatened with utter destruction by enclosure, by fir-planting, and by the indiscriminate sale of old historic timber. The exhibition, it is promised, will contain works by Constable, Copley Fielding, Lee Bridell, W. P. Frith, E. G. Warren, T. L. Rowbotham, W. Crane, Nasmyth, Vickars, &c.

WITH a patriotic desire to rival the Archäologische Zeitung of Berlin, MM. de Witte and Lenormant have started a new journal in Paris, calling it the Gazette Archéologique, the first number of which has just appeared. It is ambitious in the matter of illustrations, printing, and paper, but is least successful where there was most room for improvement, viz., in the illustrations. The two coloured designs from Greek vases, for instance, are of a decidedly inferior order. As regards the text there is only one redeeming article in it, and that is by M. de Witte, on a representation of Dionysus and Silenus.

THE Holbein Society has issued a descriptive account, by Mr. Alfred Aspland, of Burgman's woodcuts, The Triumph of the Emperor Maximilian I., to accompany the facsimile reprints of these designs, on a somewhat reduced scale, that formed one of the Society's preceding issues. Mr. Aspland's account is to a considerable extent translated from the edition of 1796. There is a good deal of curious and serviceable matter in this publication, but the arrangement is somewhat

lax and discursive.

from the neck is the collar of SS. There is little reason to doubt that it commemorates Sir Roger Vaughan of Bredwardine, who married the daughter of Sir David Gam (Shakspere's Fluellen), and, according to the popular story, saved the life of King Henry at Agincourt by the sacrifice of his own.

THERE has lately been added to the collection of Etruscan antiquities in the British Museum a stone object in the shape, and not much more than twice the size, of a pine cone, with a tenon or plug by which it had been inserted into a base. Round the side is incised the following inscription: Suses: Velus Veintu: or, as Professor Corssen prefers to read it, Velu Sveintu, comparing the latter name with the Etruscan Sveitus, Sveitu, Sveitusi, Sveital, Svetiu, Sveti, Svenia, and the Latin Suetius, Suetidius, and Suetonius. Suses is nom. sing. mas. of a proper name. Compare Susinal. Fabretti had published this inscription (Glossar., No. 2327 bis), reading wrongly Susus, while again in another place (p. 1724), he reads it Suses, without noticing the discrepancy. He reads Velu Sveintu as one word, and leaves it alone there, but elsewhere (p. 1718) suggests the division here given.

MR. L. ALMA TADEMA has just completed a very remarkable work. It is in three compartments, and is entitled the Tragedy of an Honest Wife. The subject and treatment are poetic in the extreme. Chilperic, King of the Franks, having many wives, made an offer to the father of Brunhild for his younger daughter Galsuinthe, in marriage, pledging himself to dismiss all her predecessors. This he did, but Fredegunda, one of the discarded wives, set herself to win back her lover, and one morning Galsuinthe was found strangled in bed. But when she was buried a great miracle happened, for the lamp over her tomb fell on the pavement, but instead of being broken, the pavement gave way to receive it, and it burned on in the marble. The story is taken from St. Gregory of Tours' Histoire Ecclésiastique des Franks. The first compartment shows Fredegunda at her open window, through which she sees Chilperic solemnising his marriage with Galsuinthe under the shade of the four holy oaks. The figure of the disgraced queen is superb. With feline stealthiness, and no little feline grace she half crouching in the darkness of the cushions, glaring out at the glory of her rival. There is tigerish wickedness in the small fierce eyes, straight lips and clenched hand. With wonderful skill the painter has thrown over the whole scene a sense of the singular and terrific age in which the events took place, an epoch of rapid decadence, when in a single generation the gracious civilisation of the most elegant of the Roman

THE ancient and interesting church of Bredwar-sits, dine on the river Wye is about to undergo the perilous process of restoration. It possesses at present many curious features, and among others a Norman doorway of unusual size on the north side of the nave. The tympanum exhibits some rude carving of early date, and in the surrounding wall there are several courses of herring-bone work. A large decorated window in the chancel