near Colchester; Lexden was included at the Domesday survey in the manor of Stanway (a name of obvious Roman origin) and appears under the name of Lessendena, which was explained by Mr. Jenkins, as equivalent to "the royal city." The essay contained various valuable remarks on other Roman remains in that vicinity.

May 13. Mr. Gurney in the chair.

Francis Bentall, esq. of Little Dean's Yard, Westminster, was elected a Fellow of the Society.

Mr. C. R. Smith exhibited a few fragments of Roman fresco painting, which were found near the tessellated pavement in Threadneedle Street, above noticed.

Richard Porrett, esq. F.S.A. exhibited a small pocket volume, being a copy of "Les Heures royalles, dediées au Roy," printed at Paris in 1657; the binding of which is covered with a cloth formed of human hair (in a copious quantity) interwoven with gold and silver thread: at the side are several ornamental knots and two flaming hearts, with the initials L.F. It formerly belonged to Cosway, the Royal Academician, by whom it was given to Thomas Mortimer, esq. author of the British Plutarch (Mr. Porrett's maternal grandfather), and a tradition attends it that the hair was that of King Charles the First, and the book presented by his widow Henrietta Maria to her son Charles the Second.

Sir Henry Ellis then read an essay by a gentleman whose name was not mentioned, being a narrative of the history of Eric Bloody-axe, king of Norway, and afterwards king of Northumberland, compiled from the Northern sagas, the Saxon chronicle, &c.

May 20. Hudson Gurney, esq. V.P. Timothy Frederick Triebner, esq. F.S.S. of Old Bond-st., and the Rev. Samuel Roffy Maitland, F.R.S. Librarian to the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace, were elected Fellows of the Society.

Thomas Farmer Dukes, esq. F.S.A. of Shrewsbury, presented a MS. volume in 'quarto, containing a description of the Roman station of Uriconium (now Wroxeter) illustrated with many drawings. The memoir was formerly read to the Society on the 24th Dec. 1829.

Major Edward Moor, F.R.S. of Bealings, exhibited an ancient key of iron inlaid with brass, found at Framlingham castle; and also a small round seal found at Burgh, representing a castle, with the initials (m. b.) and (within the gateway) this letter S. probably for Senescallus. This seal has been engraved in the Gentleman's Magazine for April 1830, and there explained by our correspondent D. A. Y. as having probably belonged to William Brekeston, who was wardrobe

keeper, 1 Edw. III. The key also is engraved in our Magazine for Jan. 1828. The same gentleman exhibited the frame of an ancient pocket or gipciere; it was perfectly plain.

Sir Henry Ellis, Secretary, communicated a bibliographical notice of a book entitled the Russe Commonwealth, 12mo, 1591, written by Dr. Giles Fletcher, and suppressed by Queen Elizabeth. Sir H. Ellis illustrated this subject by copies of two manuscript documents in the British Museum, one a Remonstrance addressed to Sir William Cecil, by the Muscovy merchants, on the appearance of Dr. Fletcher's book, the angry statements of which it was thought might provoke resentment in Russia; and the other Dr. Fletcher's report of his embassage made shortly after his return in 1588, detailing the particulars of the "hard entertainment" and uncourteous treatment he had experienced in that then uncivilised country; which appears to have arisen in great measure from a determination of the Russian government to remove the trade from the Navon passage (whither the English usually resorted) to Port St. Nicholas.Fletcher's book is included for the most part in Purchas's Pilgrimes, but that editor took the liberty to "modify his biting style," and prune away some of the most querulous and offensive passages.

In our last report, p. 527, in the passage relating to Mr. Windus's paper on the Portland Vase, the names of Septimus Severus and Julia Domna are given in error for Alexander Severus and Julia Mammæa. A full account of this tomb, the sarcophagus and vase, will shortly be published by Mr. Windus, with ample graphic illustrations.

CAMBRIDGE ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY.

May 6. This society held its first annual meeting. The business commenced with a proposal to modify one of the existing laws, so as to admit of the enlargement of the Council-This having been adopted, a board of management for the year ensuing was chosen as follows :

President.-The Rev. Ralph Tatham, D.D., Master of St. John's college.

Council. Rev. W. H. Cookson, M.A.; Rev. Professor Corrie, B.D.; Sir Henry Dryden, Bart.; J.O. Halliwell, esq. M.A.; Rev. J. Hildyard, M.A.; C. Lestourgeon, esq. M.A.; Rev. J. Lodge, M.A.; Rev. J. J. Smith, M.A.; F. Thackeray, esq., M.A.; Rev. W. Webb, D.D.; Master of Clare Hall; H. A. Woodham, esq. B.A. Treasurer.-The Rev. J. J. Smith. Secretary.-J. O. Halliwell, esq. F.R.S. Auditors.-J. Packe, esq. M.A., ViceProvost of King's college; the Rev. W. Bates.

After a Report had been received, and several presents announced, a paper was read by Sir Henry Dryden, on a number of Camps which he considers connected with each other, chiefly on the edge of a range of hills bounding on the east the valley of the Severn and upper Avon, extending from Bath and Bristol, on the lower Avon, to Daventry, in Northamptonshire, a distance of eighty-five miles. This paper was illustrated by a map, and by plans and sections of the camps described; and it appears highly probable that these camps were a part of the chain used, if not formed, by Ostorius Scapula for the protection of the Roman Province.

Mr. Woodham explained the delay in the appearance of his communication upon "the Application of Heraldry to the Public and Collegiate Buildings of the University," ," which is to form No. IV. of the Society's publications, and held out the prospect of its being published in a fortnight.

A number of remains, chiefly Roman, lay upon the table. Some found in the immediate neighbourhood of Cambridge, were from the collection of Mr. Deck. The rest, together with his own drawings, representing two tessellated pavements and the coloured chamber-walls of a Roman villa, found not long since at Litlington, were exhibited by the Rev. W. Clack, This selection from his museum, formed by his own exertions, contained some highly interesting specimens ; and the inspection of them was accompanied with illustrations and a description.

CAMBRIDGE CAMDEN SOCIETY,

May 18. The second anniversary meeting of this society was held at the rooms of the Philosophical Society. The chair having been taken by the President, twenty-two members were balloted for and elected. The President announced that the Society had been honoured by the accession of the Lord Archbishop of Armagh, and the Bishops of Winchester, Lincoln, Bath and Wells, Sodor and Man, and Edinburgh.

The report of the retiring committee was then read, from which it appeared that 250 churches had been visited and described; that grants had been made during the year in aid of the York Minster-Old Shoreham, Sussex-Blisworth, Northamptonshire-Fenstanton, HuntsLolworth, Cambs.-Denton, Sussex; that the society had published several tracts in support of its designs; and that the balance in the Treasurer's hands amounted to £170.

The following gentlemen were elected to fill the office of committee for 1841-2: I. M. Neale, esq. B.A. Downing, Chairman: A. S. Eddis, esq. B.A. Fellow

of Trinity, Treasurer; B. Webb,_ esq. Trin., and J. G. Young, esq. B.A. Trin., Joint Honorary Secretaries; and C. Colson, esq. B.A. Fellow of St. John's; and F. A. Paley, esq. St. John's.

The President then delivered an address on the objects, principles, and nature of the society; considering it not only as an architectural, but as an ecclesiastical body. He argued from what it had done to what it might be expected to do, and concluded by shewing how ample was the field for its exertions.

A paper was then read by F. A. Paley, esq. B.A., of Blisworth church, Northamptonshire-the oldest church in the kingdom, which he illustrated by several sketches.

A paper by the Rev. E. T. Codd, B.A., St. John's, on Daglingworth church, Gloucestershire, was, from want of time, necessarily deferred till the next meeting.

Upwards of seventy brasses from various parts of the kingdom were exhibited, and the society's large model of the font in Winchester Cathedral was placed on the table.

OXFORD ARCHITECTURAL SOCIETY.

May 12. Drawings of details in the old Church at Cheltenham, and various other presents were received.

The Chairman stated, that the designs and working drawings for Gothic Churches in the Diocese of Madras, for which an application was made by the Rev. Mr. Tucker some months since, have now been supplied, together with a collection of such books and engravings as appeared most likely to be useful;

That an application has been received from the Bishop of Newfoundland for designs for a Cathedral in that diocese;

That the Cambridge Camden Society have agreed to admit the members of the Oxford Society to the privilege of attending their meetings, and of purchasing their publications on the same terms as their own members.

A paper was read by Mr. Grey, of Magdalen Hall, on Cumner Church, Berks, illustrated by general views, and a number of careful sketches of various parts and details of that very interesting church. The tower is a good specimen of Early English, very early in the style, with a slight mixture of Norman work, probably about the year 1200. There is a Norman corbel table on the south side of the church, and some other parts of the original structure remain; but the greater part of the church is good Decorated work of about 1320, corresponding with the south aisles of St. Mary Magdalen and St. Aldate's churches in Oxford, the windows having flowing tracery. Some of the old wood-work, both of the roof and of the

open seats, with their poppies, is particularly worthy of attention. One of the poppies in the chancel has all the emblems of the crucifixion carved upon it. There is one of the usual odious singing galleries at the west end, which almost entirely conceals the western arch, one of the most beautiful features of the church; and on the exterior an ugly modern porch, which ought to be removed; the walls should. also be stripped of the rough cast which now conceals the masonry, and gives a bad modern look in passing through the village; these Churchwardens' improvements being the most conspicuous parts of the building.

A subscription is now on foot for the restoration of Iffley Church. Few members of the University, either past or present, can be unacquainted with this admirable specimen of Anglo-Norman architecture; and we hope the committee, in whose hands the management of the building is placed, will find no difficulty in collecting the sum necessary for the work. The best authority, and correct taste will be the guides followed in this praiseworthy undertaking.

On Friday, the 7th of May, was laid, by the Rev. Vaughan Thomas, Chairman of the Committee of Management, the foundation stone of the chapel which the Governors of the Radcliffe Asylum, in fulfilment of the original design, recently resolved to erect for the use of the patients. It is to be in the Early English style, and so arranged in the interior, as to allow all to see and hear the person who officiates; but, by the intervention of a partition, the patients of one sex will not see those of the other.

RESTORATION OF OLD SHOREHAM
CHURCH, SUSSEX.

The church is a cruciform structure, consisting of a nave, transept, and chancel, without aisles to either portion; in its original state two chapels branched off from the eastern side of the transept, flanking the chancel; above the intersection of the nave and transept is a square tower ornamented with arcades on the sides, and covered with a low pyramidical roof, in all probability the original finish. In the autumn of last year a reparation of the church, rendered absolutely necessary by the decayed state of the structure, was commenced, and is now in progress; the expense of the repairs is to be defrayed by the parishioners, with a grant from Magdalene college, Oxford, the patrons of the living, and a subscription aided by the Cambridge Camden Society, to which society the superintendence of the repairs is confided.

At this period, the church was in a lamentable condition. The soil of the church yard had been raised so high as to cover the walls to the height of several feet above the level of the interior; so high, indeed, that the jambs of a Norman doorway in the south transept were concealed, the arch alone being visible. The north branch of the transept was without a roof, and both the chapels were destroyed; the tower was covered with rough cast, the arcades being entirely filled up: the eastern window was destroyed, and two modern round-headed lights substituted, and most of the other windows had suffered more or less. The damp and unwholesome state of the interior, arising from the accumulation of the earth, was a most serious evil.

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The restoration commenced with the removal of the ground from the church, during the progress of which a altar bell was found. The doorway in the south transept was restored, with some other ornamental portions, in Caen stone: the rough cast was removed from the exterior of the tower, and the arcades opened. Upon the removal of the filling-in of the great east window many fragments of the ancient one were discovered. The restoration of the north transept is in progress; the eastern window is to be again occupied by mullions and tracery, and the side windows to be repaired.

The design of the east window is intended to assimilate with that of St. Mary Magdalene, Oxford, except that it will consist of four lights instead of two. The designs are the production of J. C. Buckler, esq. the architect of Magdalene College, and his name is a sufficient guarantee for their fidelity. A stone altar will probably be raised in the chancel, and supersede the old wooden table which at present usurps the place of the original one, and other appropriate decorations are in contemplation, together with the entire removal of the cumbrous pews which until lately disfigured the interior, and the substitution of appropriately designed seats in their place. The alterations will, when complete, effect an entire change in the character of the edifice. Instead of a neglected and damp structure, unhealthy and forbidding, an object of regret to every lover of the ancient temples of the land, it will form a striking and elegant object, appropriate from its symbolical form, a true Latin cross, and inviting by pleasing and appropriate ornament the attention both of the antiquary and the churchman.

This good work, together with the removal of the rough cast from the curious Saxon tower of St. Benedict at Cambridge, have emanated from the Camden Society of Cambridge. Both of these works are

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witnesses of what can be effected in the restoration of our ancient churches at a comparatively small expense, and how easily it is accomplished whenever its design is actively taken in hand. E.I.C.

THE SAINTE CHAPELLE AT PARIS. The works for the Restoration of the Sainte Chapelle at Paris have been commenced under the joint superintendance of M. Lassus, M. Duban, and M. Viollet Leduc, than whom three architects of greater taste and judgment, and of more scrupulous regard for antiquity, could not have been selected in the capital. The former is more especially entitled to a leading share in this great national work, from his being the author of the splendid survey and drawings made in 1834, which was rewarded with the gold medal of the Institute, and is to form the basis of a large publication on this valuable relic of the thirteenth century, to be published by the French government. The first thing done by I these gentlemen has been to see that scaffoldings and other apparatus be applied externally wherever necessary, in order that any repairs required for the outer side of the walls, the buttresses, &c. may be effected judiciously. The next thing has been to remove all the book shelves in the Upper Chapel, and thus to unmask the beautiful series of triplicated arches running all round under the windows. The colours and gilding 1 on the shafts, towers, etc. of these arches, have been found in better preservation than was expected: and within the heads of the arches, and between each arch, have been found much more than was hoped of the curious blue glass with gold ornaments on it that formed such a peculiar feature of the ornamentation of this edifice. In the autumn all the papers of the Court of Accounts which occupy the lower chapel are to be removed, and the tumular inscriptions on the floor, which is entirely covered with them, will then be legible, and can be copied. M. Lenoir, who is one of the architects entrusted with the restoration of other portions of the Palais de Justice, has sent to the chapel from the Ecole des Beaux Arts, the beautiful wooden staircase, of the same date as the chapel itself, which led up to the top of the shrine. It is a curious specimen of the wood carving of the epoch. The remainder of the shrine in stone is in perfect preservation in one of the workshops attached to the Abbey of St. Denis, together with two of the twelve statues of the GENT. MAG. VOL. XV.

apostles which also adorned the chapel, and will be brought from thence to the place where they originally stood. The other ten statues are in the cellars of the monastery on the top of the Mont Valerien, which is now, with the adjoining cemetery, about to be still further desecrated by conversion into a citadel, being part of the childish project for fortifying Paris against the Parisians. These statues have been reclaimed from the Minister of War, and if they will not do for lime will perhaps be given up.

The Minister of the Interior, on the application of the Archbishop of Paris, has ordered the telegraph, which has so long disgraced the Church of Montmartre, to be removed lower down the hill: and the choir of the church, which contains some valuable Roman columns and capitols, to be restored. On the application of the same Prelate, the minister of War has ordered that the works of the citadel on the Mont Valerien, shall not disturb the ancient cemetery on the eastern slope of the hill.

On May 10, the budget of the Minister of the Interior was discussed in the Chamber of Deputies, when, on the chapter, that 400,000 francs be allowed for the reparation and preservation of Historical Monuments during 1842, being put to the vote, the Marquis de Sade moved that the grant should be increased to 600,000 francs. M. Vitet seconded the amendment, and in an eloquent speech showed how much more advisable it was to spend a good sum at once in repairing such monuments as required it, rather than small sums at later periods. The Minister of the Interior complained of the penury of the treasury, but the feeling of the chamber was evidently against him, and with a truly enlightened spirit the increased grant was voted without a division. This is one of the most important events in favour of archæological pursuits that has taken place in France since the great revolution: and the impetus it will give to a spirit of conservation, happily now in the increase, will be immense.

At the sitting of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres on April 16, M. Hase read a letter from M. Paul Prieur at Oran, giving an account of the ruins of a Roman Colonia, eight leagues south of that town. They were believed to be the remains of Giloa, which station has been placed by many geographers on the sea coast. If this conjecture be correct, several difficulties in the Antonine Itinerary will be cleared up.

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