so common a feature in the Norman castles. It is quite clear, in the first place, that the mound is wholly artificial, and secondly that it would not bear a tower similar to that which rises from it, for at least half a century after its construction, if at all. But the present tower and its wall are certainly early Norman, so that either the mound is older than the Conquest, or the buildings rise through it from the original surface of the ground. The latter point it would be easy, at a trifling expense, to ascertain. The writer believes this to be a very rare, if not a solitary example, of a heavy Norman tower appearing at the summit of an artificial mound.* The situation of the castle is well chosen. It commands both the town and the passage of the river, here a deep and very broad stream. Into the history of this castle it is. unnecessary here to enter. It will be found written in the county histories both of Warwick and Stafford, upon the border of both of which counties it stands. It is the seat of a very ancient barony, and of a very illustrious race; but its modern fame is due rather to its mention in the pages of Marmion, and its connection with the fictitious hero of the poem. Such is the power of genius. April 1843. C. ANCIENT BRITISH COLLAR, FOUND IN LANCASHIRE. BY the kind permission of the owner, James Dearden, of Orchard, Rochdale, Esquire, I beg leave to avail myself of your old and valued publication to record the discovery of an ancient British Collar, (see the plate annexed,) and which, as a perfectly unique specimen of the arts amongst the aboriginal inhabitants of our island, will, I trust, be interesting to your general readers, and perhaps help to throw some additional light on the habits and customs of the Britons, prior to their entire subjugation by the Romans. This most interesting relic of antiquity was found by some labourers in removing the decayed trunk of an old oak tree, near Handle Hall, the ancient seat of the Dearden family; under the roots of the tree was observed a large flag-stone, which it seems, curiosity induced the labourers to disturb, when beneath this flag, and lying immediately on the surface, the collar was discovered. The material is of bronze or mixed metal, that apparently differs in no particular from the swords, celts, spear heads, and other known works of art manufactured by the Britons, or their instructors the Phoenicians; it is made to fit the naked neck, the opening being between the first and second bead on each side, and weighs one pound five ounces. The work. manship is exquisite, and in some respects resembles that of the British corslet of gold, discovered in Flintshire in 1833, and figured in the Archæologia, vol. xxvi. page 428. In general appearance the beads or knobs imitate the twisted torques, and the zig-zag ornament, scarcely ever omitted in works of British art, is carried round the outer edge with a beauty not to be surpassed. That this great curiosity is correctly attributed to the ancient Britons may be affirmed with tolerable certainty. Independently of the material of which it is constructed, and in which so many British remains are continually discovered, its fabrication is strongly characteristic of the best works of British art already known, and the abundant authority for the use of such an ornament amongst the Britons seems to put the question beyond a doubt. When Caractacus was taken before Claudius, the spoils in bracelets, rings, chains, and other personal or * Matthew of Westminster attributes the mound to the Saxon Ethelfleda, Anno 914. This is very possible, but the early authors are not generally to be trusted upon matters of this nature. See Dugdale, Warwickshire, Ed. 1656, p. 817. GENT. MAG. VOL. XIX. 4 F naments of gold carried before him, were immense ;* and we are told that in the north, where gold was not to be procured, bronze and even iron was used instead, of which the Britons were not a little proud, whence Strutt infers the use of such ornaments amongst the Britons to have been of great antiquity.+ Pliny expressly mentions the massy gold neck-chains of the women, and Herodian tells us that the Britons wore collars made from the teeth of the sea-horse, as also from iron and bronze. The very peculiar situation in which the relic was discovered, (immediately under a large flag stone,) may be thought to throw some additional light on the mythology of the Druids. The Bardic writers and mythological Triads refer to the imprisonment of Arthur, (the mythological representative of Noah,) in the prison of Kûd, under the flat stone of Echemeint. Kûd or Ceridwen was the name of the Arkite goddess, and the word "Echemeint seems to imply regeneration. The whole refers to the diluvian history and the mysteries celebrated in commemoration of it. A very satisfactory idea of this allegory may be formed from the lines of an early Christian bard. "A ddug Jonas o berfedd Kyd."§ Who brought Jonas out of the belly of Kyd. That these mysteries were actually celebrated by some emblematical clausure of the votary of druidism, that he might be born again the mystical child of the Arkite deity, is amply attested, and antiquaries have looked to the cromlech as the emblematical womb of Ceridwen; but Davies in his admirable work on the mythology of the British druids asks, (apparently in some doubt on this point,) Under what flat stones could the Arkite god dess have confined her votaries in order to confer these privileges upon them save in those attached to her sanctuaries?" These, on the authority of Taliesin, he concludes, were above ground, but on the establishment of the Helio-Arkite theology, which ingrafted into the early druidic rites *Tacit. Annal. lib. 12, cap. 8. † Chronicle, vol. i. 275. Nat. Hist. i. 33, c. 1. $ Welsh Archaiol. p. 48. Il Davies's British Druids, p. 409. the cruelties afterwards practised, the initiation of the aspirant into these mysteries might, and in all probability did extend, to actual interment, a supposition, the discovery of this collar, together with traces of human remains in a position precisely similar to that pointed out in mythological history, seems to warrant. That the Druids were described par excellence as "" wearers of collars or chains," several interesting authorities from the primitive bards will be found in the Welsh Archaiology,* and the knobs on the specimen before us will remind your Celtic readers in particular of the knobbed collar of the sacred ox of Hu, (the Helio-Arkite god identified with him, and in the celebration of rites represented by his priest,) who drew the beaver (mythologically Noah) from the lake, and prevented a repetition of the deluge, a tradition still attached to many of the lakes in the principality, where these druidic mysteries were doubtless once celebrated,§ and is the same mythological representative of the regeneration of man, and the diluvian history, as the mystical delivery from the prison of Kud already noticed. No doubt many of your learned readers conversant with Druidic mythology, and the habits and customs of the Britons, could throw much additional light on this eurious subject; but the authorities and traditions ĺ have noticed seem sufficient to identify the knobbed collar as an appendage to the Druid priest, and to account with some degree of probability for the singular situation in which this collar was deposited. In the investigation of a subject of remote antiquity the advance of one step frequently leads to another, and the discovery of a British collar with so many pretensions to taste and even elegance, may perhaps lead to the suc *Page 212. † Davies, p. 138, 524. The title of the Helio-Arkite god Davies, Appendix, p. 558. W. Archaiol. was often conferred upon the priest. p. 72. § Davies, p. 172. On the authority of Aneurin the Bard, an eye-witness describes the celebration of these mysteries, where the bunches (ornaments) of the collars are particularly mentioned. cessful appropriation of the torques to some other use than that of a neck ornament. It is evident that a hoop loosely balanced on the extremity of each shoulder, without the possibility of being adapted to the wearer's person, cannot be correct; besides that the connecting loops at each end are thus rendered useless, as the machine might always be passed over the head; and the satisfactory evidence afforded by Mr. Dearden's beautiful specimen, that the collar so often mentioned as having been worn by the Britons applies to an ornament such as the one before us, is not the least useful part of its discovery. Leaving, however, the further consideration of this interesting subject to your readers, I remain, Yours, &c. A. C. KIRKMANN. BRONZE CENTAUR FOUND NEAR SIDMOUTH. THE second subject of our Plate is a small centaur of bronze which was found, in 1841, by some fishermen, on the beach under the cliffs near Sidmouth, on the Salcombe side of the little river Sid, and is now in the possession of Mr. Heineken, of Sidmouth. It is evidently Roman, and has been supposed to have formed one of the decorations of a standard or ensign. The groupe is nine inches in height, and hollow, shewing it to have been cast. It represents the centaur Chiron, with his pupil Achilles behind his back, taking his lesson in archery and hunting, a subject which has appeared on ancient monuments, and even in later days exercised the pencil of the great Rubens. The left fore leg of the centaur is broken off, and the right hind leg is mutilated; the left arm, which has been bent aside from its original position, is now raised toward his eyes; and the right, which appears to have held a hunting spear, is extended to a dog, which is leaping up in front. The mouth of the centaur is filled up with a pebble from the sea beach, as is the vacuity under his arm. The young Achilles held a bow, the upper part of which still appears; on his left side a sword or parazonium; and a parma is slung between his shoulders. The under part or pedestal seems to have been a socket, shaft, or shank (scapus), whereby the bronze was fixed or screwed into a pole or staff, and was filled with lead. ferent coins of the Emperor Gallienus, recording the second legion. The legends are LEG. II. PART(hica) v. (quintum) and vI. (sextum) v. and VI. F(idelis.) They are of billon or debased metal. Also on five different coins of Carausius, commemorating his 2nd legion (3rd brass). The centaur shooting appears also on coins of Gallienus, with the legend Apollini Cons. Aug. to Apollo the preserver, who, being famous for his skill in archery, and for his horses, they are supposed by some joined together, as it were, to protect that emperor from the arrows of those dangerous marksmen the Persian cavalry. He bestowed the titles and badges recorded on these coins, to ingratiate himself with the troops, and these they also carried on their ensigns or standards. A silver coin of Carausius, indeed, records his fourth legion with the centaur; it is, however, the only one of that corps known to us as so designated; his seventh, with the bull, was quartered at Gloucester. We add some learned observations suggested by this subject which have appeared in Mr. Shortt's "Collectanea Curiosa Antiqua Dunmonia,” in which was also given a very inade quate representation of the groupe :-"The centaur appears on two dif "It is very probable that this ensign may, from the circumstance of its being the device of the 2nd legion of the great Carausius, have belonged to a cohort of that distinguished admiral and naval emperor's troops, which bore the centaur as its emblem. ** It is not likely that it was the ornament or device of a ship, from the small size, although we find in Virgil's Eneis a ship called the Centaur. The ensigns were generally, however, of gold or silver, the poles plated; in later days, probably, of bronze gilt, as the present may have been. There were orbiculi et clypeoli, little discs or shields, wreaths of laurel, hands, &c. with busts of the reigning emperors, affixed to these standards. The dra cones, dragons, or dragon-headed ensigns, we are told by Suidas, had silver heads; the rest of the body of a silky texture and variegated colours. These were used by the Indians, Assyrians, and Scythians, afterwards by the Dacians, and, imitating all these, the Romans. They were found among the spoils of Zenobia, and afterwards the bearers were called by the Romans draconarii, or dragoons.* Of these a number were carried by the troops in the emperor's body guard, and were called páσuara, and it is doubted whether they were worked on the colours with the needle, or were of solid shape and consistence, as on the column of Trajan, and so fastened on the top of the spear, already adorned with gold and gems. Sidonius calls them anques textiles, embroidered snakes, and Prudentius draconum pallia, sheets or flags representing dragons and spreading on a staff." THAT the objections to the small and modified income tax which the present minister proposed and carried, in order to restore our shattered finances, and place the income of the country on a sound basis, have been much more general and more violent than one would have anticipated, 1 have long thought, That it was necessary or in the highest degree expedient, all will, I think, allow, except those who wish to throw off all taxation from their property, and propose plans to supply its place, which they consider will in the last and lowest degree affect themselves. This selfishness and want of patriotic feeling are very strong and striking marks of the general spirit which now pervades the social system; it hints also at the unsound and speculative manner in which trade is carried on, that dreads the slightest diminution of its casual and hazardous returns; and it shows an open and professed abandonment of those honest and honourable principles which identify a man's private interest with the welfare of the com- . munity and the credit of the country. * Our friend, in his version of this runs here a little too far. Draname, goons derive their name from that of a firearm, not from that of a standard.-Edit. It is in short a decided mark of the |