THE LATE MR. JOHN P. DEXTER. VISITORS to the South Kensington Museum, and to the International Exhibition at Paris, in 1867, will doubtless recollect the remarkable loan collection of antique English silver which formed an essential part of the "History of Industry." The collection illustrated the progress of British skill in the working of the precious metals from a very early Norman period; and the models of drinking cups centuries old were finer by far than the most finished examples out of the present time. The owner of this unrivalled collection, Mr. John P. Dexter, died on October 17, in his fifty-seventh year. Mr. Dexter's career furnishes proof, says the West London Advertiser, that the spirit of emulation which nurtured a Whittington has not yet gone out in England. He was the fifth son of a working goldsmith. Leaving home early, he became shop-boy to a Jewish firm in Houndsditch, having extensive dealings with wealthy and titled families at the West-end. After two years in this employment, he quitted that part of the town, and passed into the service of Messrs. Turner, in New Bond Street, jewellers and goldsmiths to the Royal family, where his knowledge of the business (albeit picked up quite promiscuously), together with the pleasing suavity of his manners, made him indispensable to the firm. A proposal from the rising firm of Messrs. Richard and Stephen Garrard attracted Mr. Dexter to the Haymarket, and one of the results of his business tact was that, ere long, that firm achieved the distinction of becoming the Crown jewellers. Here he rose with extraordinary strides, and passing over the heads of those who were, in the first instance, his superiors, he became successively the manager and the managing partner of the house-the acknowledged head of the trade in precious stones and precious metals. On his first marriage, Mr. Dexter became for some years a resident in Kensington, taking a house in the neighbourhood of Holland Park. So high was his authority upon everything relating in any way to his business pursuits, that a connoisseur of antique silver and gems, whose own fame is unquestioned, observed to us only a few months ago-" Mr. Dexter can tell the age of an antique the moment he looks at it."

if not personally, yet by means of those scientific engineers and Oriental scholars who are connected with the undertaking, through the means which are at hand, namely, a subscription to the fund. He that in imagination conveys himself to Jerusalem, to Bethlehem, to Joppa, to Cana, will soon find so grand a charm of association, and so sublime a feeling in connection with them, as will make him eager to distinguish himself for his liberality towards so noble an enterprise.

A FORTHCOMING ARCHEOLOGICAL WORK. WE are much pleased to learn that Mr. Charles Warne's long promised work on "Ancient Dorset," is nearly completed, and will consist of about 400 pages of folio size, besides being illustrated with many wood-cuts and copperplate engravings. A work of this kind deserves a place on the shelves of every archeologist, for the subject is one of great interest, more especially so at the present time, when the spirit of inquiry into the scattered traces of the preNorman inhabitants of this country is apparent on every side, and archaic grave-mounds and megalithic structures are being eagerly examined. We should not do the eminent Dorset antiquary justice were we not to add that besides describing the antiquities of the county, arranged under the Celtic, Roman, Saxon, and Danish periods, the work will contain an essay on ancient Dorset Mines, and an introduction to the ethnology of Dorset, the latter contributed by Dr. Wake Smart, of Cranbourne. Archaeologists will scarcely be true to their cause, unless they show their appreciation of the labours of so zealous and painstaking an antiquary as Mr. Warne, by giving their full and ready support to a volume, which we are sure will long remain the book of reference on ancient Dorset.

THE NATIONAL GALLERY.

IT has been our duty to record many acts of noble munificence on the part of Sir Richard Wallace, and we have now to announce a fresh act of generosity which will be hailed with gratitude by every lover of art in the United Kingdom.

At the sale of the pictures of Prince Demidoff, some few years since, there was one which excited particular admiration. It was a small painting by Terburg, representing the "Congress of Münster." As an example of minute, delicate, and at the same time powerful, portrait painting, this is undoubtedly the most remarkable picture in the world. Every one of the many heads is a study in itself, in which the individuality of character is brought out with astonishing force and precision.

THE PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND. To explore, to seek and search, is one of the chief characteristics of the human intellect. The bosom of truth is exhaustless. Man explores his own mind for ideas, and when he has found them they lead him over the face of the earth to explore its surface and its depths for facts to corroborate his theories. Hence the charm of geography and topography. All the lands that were once famous in sacred and profane story have been more or less explored-Egypt This picture belonged to the Duc de Berri, and was sold has had its Belzoni, Nineveh its Layard, Italy its Eustace, in 1835 to Prince Demidoff. At his sale the Director of our and Greece its Wordsworth and other devoted explorers. National Gallery was so impressed with the importance of The land once inhabited by the personages of Holy Writ, this small but wonderful work of art that he did not retire have cast a charm over it that has culminated in the Pales- from the contest till he had bidden 7000l. for it. He contine Exploration Association, which possesses an income of sidered himself not to be justified in going farther, and after 2000l. per annum wherewith to carry on its interesting two more bids the picture was knocked down to an unknown work. This Association has determined on making a survey purchaser for the enormous sum of 7350l. Although it was of the entire country, from north to south-west of the surmised at the time that the Marquis of Hertford had beJordan, on the same plan as the Ordnance Survey of Great come its possessor, nothing was generally known as to the Britain. fate of the picture. It had disappeared, and was no mo The Old and New Testaments are curiously rich in topo-seen. A few days since, however, Sir Richard Valla graphical details, and it will be the object of the survey to settle all disputed places as far as possible, and to produce the grand desideratum—a perfect map of Palestine. When it is considered how much this will do to interest all Biblical students—a class daily increasing-and to render interesting the records of the Hebrew nation, it will be seen to deserve the aid it requires, in the shape of an additional thousand a year.

It needs only the pencil of imagination in the hand of each reader to excite an ardent desire to be a fellow-searcher,

wrote a note to Sir William Boxall, the Director of
National Gallery, stating that he was aware Sir Wil
had been a competitor for the picture, and that it wou
a gratification to him to present it to the nation, "to
one of the chefs-d'œuvre of our magnificent collection
When the Gallery is opened again to the public,
"Congress of Münster" exhibited, the generosity
sacrifice of such a distinguished lover of art as Sir
Wallace is known to be, in parting with this gem
ing, will be thoroughly appreciated.-The Times.

he

THE ROMAN CEMETERY AT DUSTON,
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.

ANCIENT LONDON.-CITY SCRAPS.

I.

Stow informs us that it was known as "S. Sythe's, or Sithis Lane; so named from a church also called St. Bennet Shorne, or Sherehogge; which, being destroyed in the great fire, has not been rebuilt. The parish is now united with St. Stephen, Walbrook.

SISE LANE, now cut in two by Queen Victoria Street, IN Vol. XLIII., Part I., of the "Archeologia of the Society affords a notable instance of verbal corruption. of Antiquaries," lately issued, is an exhaustive paper by Mr. Samuel Sharpe, F.S.A., on the discovery of Roman remains at Duston, Northamptonshire, in an iron stone quarry on the estate of Earl Cowper, K.G. Fragments of Roman vessels have been turned up from time to time during the last ten or twelve years, but not until the present discoveries were made, two or three years since, was it suspected that so many traces of the Romans existed buried at this spot. by persons bringing to him ancient relics from Duston, visited It appears that Mr. Sharpe, having had his curiosity excited the ironstone works himself, and "found the surface of the

No doubt Sythe, Sithis, and Sise, are put for St. Osythe, Ositha, or Osith; a virgin queen and martyr. She was daughter of a Mexican prince, contracted in an unconsummated marriage to a King of East Anglia, and martyred by the heathen Danes circa 870 A.D. There is a Kilsyth in Stirlingshire. N.B. Kil being High-infilled ground strewn with broken vessels obtained from the land-Scottish for cell or chapel; and her nunnery, afterwards a priory, at St. Osyth, near Colchester, became corrupted into Chick, Chich, or Cice. Miss Yonge states that the full name would be Os-thryth = holy strength; no doubt she was a leading saint with the Essex people, to whom, at one time, London belonged.

66

The prefix os for saint or holy is equivalent to “og; both being forms of the same word as used in different dialects. This word "og" has been corrupted into hog or hogge; shere being shire, and Bennet is the Latin form of blessed," as abridged from benedicite. Shorne is, most probably, another form of shere or shire, from the A. S. verb " scyran," to shear. So the church, dedicated to St. Osyth, was "the shrine of the blessed shire saint." It stood at the corner of Pancras Lane, Cheapside, and the churchyard is still preserved facing south.

II.

The ancient ceremonies that mark the feudal tenure by which the corporation holds the sheriffwick of London and Middlesex, performed annually at Michaelmas, having recently been repeated, it is curious to notice a close coincidence

therewith connected.

The tribute of nails and horse-shoes is rendered in respect of a forge at St. Clement Danes: it is an old tenure held directly from the king, and we learn that Walter le Brien,

marshal, rendered his dues at the stone cross, temp. Ed. I.

roll i.; "pro quadam fabrica quam de Rege tenet in Capite ex opposite crucis lapideæ."

This location of a farrier at the "stone cross" is paralleled by Stow in a different locality, viz., at Shoreditch, see 1st edition, p. 349.-"In Soersditch, sometime stood a crosse, now a smith's forge." These blacksmiths, farriers, or "marshals," were seemingly placed just outside the city barriers for the convenience of travellers, and no doubt drove a thriving trade there. The corporation still retains one "marshal" in the city pay.

November 9, 1871.

A. H.

excavated soil, and other fragments and human bones projecting from the soil portion of the face of the quarry cliff." Here then were evidences of a cemetery having existed on the site of the quarry, and this was afterwards confirmed by the discovery of examples of burial by cremation, in urns, and with the body at full length. No vestiges of Roman houses, or other signs of domestic life, have been found at Duston, excepting, perhaps, fifteen or twenty wells which seem as if they had been originally used for obtaining water. As might be expected where there were a great number of in all kinds of ways. Many, for instance, "without doubt Roman burials, the vessels of pottery found were distributed devoted to cinerary uses were deposited singly at no great depth in the surface soil, and perhaps represent burials by cremation of individuals not very high up in the social scale. Such vessels have almost invariably been found in fragments.” "The more perfect fragments," continues Mr. Sharpe, "and those of a finer quality, probably were connected with the more important burials by cremation; in which burials there seems to have been some sort of uniform plan or fashion. Not unfrequently at the bottom of the "baring " in the first floor, as it were, of the rock, have been found shallow dish-shaped depressions of considerable diameter: these have contained ashes and vessels occasionthe skeleton was found entire, some have been made so near ally perfect, and of the better kind." In those burials where the surface that the bones have barely escaped being ploughed up. They appear to belong to both sexes, youthful and

adult.

Many coins have also been found at Duston, ranging coin of Cunobeline, the Briton, has turned up, but Mr. from Claudius to Honorius. Among these a small, brass Sharpe considers that this "find" does not serve "as evidence of historical date," as it is probable that such a coin had simply by accident obtained currency with the Roman money.

On one occasion, Mr. Sharpe found exposed three gravelike excavations in the ironstone rock. These were partly destroyed, but one was intact. "All had been filled with soil from above, but, upon this being cleared, the natural floor was found strewn with ashes; among which were burnt stones, fragments of what I will provisionally call," says Mr. Sharpe, Romano-British pottery, and a cluster of the DISCOVERY OF ROMAN REMAINS AT CORDOVA.-imitative coins called minimi." At one side of the cavity According to the Athenæum, some Roman remains have on the natural rock, were certain rude horizontal incisions, recently been exposed in the Spanish town of Cordova. It made it is thought to indicate the spot where the dead had would seem that the discovery has not yet been fully followed been deposited. This piece of incised rock was detached, up, but part of a Roman mosaic pavement is apparent, and and thus preserved from destruction by the workmen. there is only needed a little energy to expose it all to view. At present four female forms are uncovered. "These figures are separated from each other, and the whole enclosed by a flowing pattern in various coloured marbles, the ground being white. Each bit of mosaic is somewhat less than a quarter of an inch square, and consists of almost every shade of colour. Both design and execution are superior to that of such work in general, and the whole is in excellent preservation."

The paper concludes with a long list of the Roman remains found up to the present time at Duston, a perusal of which will at once show the importance of these discoveries. As illustrative of the subject, a paper in the Reliquary for January, 1870, should not be lost sight of. Several examples of Roman pottery from Duston are there exquisitely engraved by that well-known and painstaking antiquary, Mr. Llewellynn Jewitt.

K.

CENTENARIANS.

THERE is now living at Lostwithiel, in Cornwall, of which neighbourhood she has been an inhabitant all her life an old lady named Mary Arthur, who has not only entered on the second century of her existence, but had the small-pox a hundred years ago! She has been all her life in comparatively comfortable and easy circumstances, and her parents before her were well known in the place. The following extracts from the registers of Lostwithiel have been copied by a clergyman, for the purpose of proving that she was born upwards of a hundred years since:

(1) Register of the baptism of Mrs. Mary Arthur, widow, of Lostwithiel, Cornwall; recently copied by the Incumbent of St. Clements,' near Truro and Lostwithiel, from the register of that parish" Mary, the daughter of Thomas and Ann Shear, baptised January the 28th, 1772, aged 11 months." (2.) Marriage certificate, as copied by the Rev. J. Bower, Vicar of Lostwithiel, from the parish register"Nicholas Arthur, of this parish, cordwainer, and Mary Shear, of this parish, spinster, were married in this church by banns this twenty-sixth day of November, in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninetytwo, by me, Jno. Baron, Vicar. This marriage was solemnised between us, Nicholas Arthur and Mary Shear, in the presence of William Westlake and Thomas Hodge.'

The above correspondent, a Cornish clergyman, writes:My mother, now 82 years of age, remembers Mrs. Arthur as an old married woman when she was herself a girl of 18. She has retired from business for many years. She still is in possession of all her faculties, is able to read, walks about without assistance, and is scarcely at all deaf; in fact, she considers herself superior in strength and activity to many of her neighbours who are ten or twelve years younger than herself. She had the small-pox when quite an infant, just a hundred years since.'

AN extraordinary case of longevity is reported from Chesterfield. Mrs. Mary Wheelhouse, relict of a former tradesman belonging to Nottingham, died at Barlborough, near Chesterfield, in the 103rd year of her age. This age, it is said, can be verified by the parish records. Although the deceased had almost entirely lost her sight during the last two or three years, her health in other respects was remarkably good to the close of her life.

A CENTENARIAN died last week in Boston-Mrs. Carter, who for the past sixty years has occupied a house in the Lindum Road-having completed her 100th year. Her mother died at 96; her sister, Mrs. Chatterton, at 93; her brother, Mr. Hill, of Winceby, who is still living, has reached the age of 97.

PROVINCIAL.

BURY ST. EDMUNDS.

INTERESTING DISCOVERY AT BURY ST. EDMUNDS.During the excavations now in progress in Bury churchyard by Mr. Watson, the workmen a few days since came upon twenty-three blocks of Purbeck marble, at a depth of about four feet, and below the foundation of what used to be the taproom chimney of the Magpie Inn. Four of these blocks were partly worked into capitals, bearing ornamentation of perhaps the early part of the thirteenth century, the chiselmarks being as sharp as if made yesterday; and the other nineteen are, apparently, just as they came from the quarry.

OXFORD.

THE ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM.-Mr. J. H. Parker, M. A., C.B., keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, gave two lectures in the upper room of the museum on Tuesday and Wednes day, the 7th and 8th of November, and exhibited the additions made to the collection during the last year. His first lecture was on the additions and on the progress of the study of archæology during the same period, and its future prospects. His second lecture was on the explorations and excavations in Rome during the same period, with suggestions for continuing them, and the probable results.

BATH.

ANCIENT REMAINS.-In the course of the works in progress in connection with the restoration of the choir of Bath Abbey, the workmen have come across a massive column of the old Norman Abbey, similar to those found below the floor in the other part of the building. Near this spot another discovery has been made, that of a vault which it is thought not improbable may prove to be that where Bishop Oliver King was buried. Uncertainty has always attached to the burial-place of this prelate, whether in the Bath Abbey, or the Chapel Royal, Windsor.

FOREIGN.

PARIS.

THE reconstruction of the Vendôme Column is entrusted to M. Vermont, architect, who held for several years the post of conservator of that monument.

DEATH OF AN OLD SERVANT OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. - On Saturday last an inquest was held upon the body of Mr. Richard Saunders, aged eighty-six, who, for the last fifty-six years, had been the lodge-keeper at the British Museum. On Monday evening, the 30th of October, the deceased was in the act of crossing Great Russell Street, THE Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres has immediately opposite the Museum, on his way home, when awarded the medals for the successful compositions on subhe was knocked down in the roadway by a horse and cart,jects connected with the antiquities of France, for 1871, as receiving several contusions about the body. He lingered until Wednesday last, when he died. A verdict of "Accidental death" was returned.

Ar Mr. Murray's annual trade dinner, on the 4th inst., amongst the books ordered to be published by him during the present and ensuing month, was 1000 copies of Fergusson's new work on "Rude Stone Monuments."

BURNT AT CHIGAGO.-The greatest loss sustained by the Chicago Historical Society was the original draught of the Emancipation Proclamation, written in Mr. Lincoln's own handwriting, with an accompanying letter, as he presented it to the Sanitary Fair Commission for the benefit of the soldiers, and which was purchased for the sum of 10,000 dollars. Besides, there was Mr. Volk's bust of Mr. Lincoln, taken from life, as also the torn battle flags of the Chicago batteries, the eagle that stood on the flagstaff of Fort Sumter, Mr. Lincoln's walking-stick, John Brown's pike, and other valuable relics that can never be replaced. many

follows:-The first medal to M. L'Abbé Clouet, for his
"Histoire de Verdun," in three volumes; the second medal
to M. Guillaume Rey, for a volume on the "Architecture
Militaire des Croisés," published in Paris; the third medal
to MM. Beaune and D'Arbaumont, for a work, in one
Universités de Franche-Comté."
volume, on the "

THE publication of the Revue Archéologique has been resumed again, after the lapse of exactly one year. The last number being issued in September, 1870, it is proposed by the editors to make the new numbers follow in such a manner that 1870 and 1871 shall form one year only. With 1872 the regular issue will continue as hereafter. The number just published (October, 1871) contains the continuations of M. Perrot's article on the Palatine Paintings, and of M. Lenormand's Mémoire on the Ethiopian Epoch in the Egyptian History, besides "archæological remarks Strasbourg Cathedral, by A. Dumont, and a paper on a Græcor Roman Stele, found in Macedonia, by L. Heuzey.

on the

Neither of these contributions calls for any special remark, but the editors promise to work with renewed energy for the ensuing numbers.

OLD PARIS.-The most ancient cemetery in Paris is at present being removed and dug up at the cost of the State and under the direction of the Government authorities. Its existence dates back to a period anterior to the sixth century, and, as we might expect, the work of exhumation has disclosed objects of the most valuable antiquarian interest. This cemetery was attached to the original church of St. Peter and St. Paul, afterwards known as Ste. Geneviève, and a little book written in the ninth century, and entitled The Miracles of Ste. Geneviève, describes it as extending all along the road which led to the route to Sens, up to and including the territory of the church of St. Marcel. It is at that part of the cemetery that the works are now being carried on, and the workmen have come upon a series of coffins all belonging to the Merovingian epoch. The discovery of numerous skeletons, not in coffins, confirms an interesting point of antiquity connected with the adjoining church. The church of St. Marcel was founded by Roland Comte de Bloye, nephew of Charlemagne, and its chapter for a long time held the right of administering justice over a large part of the Faubourg St. Marcel. It had its regular officers, its procureur fiscal, its bailiff, and its register. The gibbets, the most popular attributes of justice in those days, were permanent institutions, and, in fact, remained standing there till 1674, when a Royal edict removed them to the Chatelet, which had just been created. In the church was the tomb of Peter Lombard, Bishop of Paris, so well-known as the "Maître des Sentences," and in the cemetery itself were buried many men whese names are familiar to Europe -D'Aguesseau and Du Moulin, the famous lawyers and juris-consults, De Thou and Duchesne, the historians, and several members of the princely House of Conti; but the remains of these and other illustrious dead have been already exhumed and removed to the catacombs in 1794. The coffins which the workmen have discovered are in some cases of very old date, some of stone, some of composition, and some of baked clay. The ornaments upon one prove it to date from the seventh century, and the heads of the skeletons are all found turned to the east, according to the usage of the primitive church.

LOSS BY FIRE.-A despatch has just been received at the Ministry of the Interior, announcing that the Hotel de Ville des Saintes, of La Charente Inférieure, has been burnt down, with all the archives. The event is not attributable to ill will. Should this news be confirmed we shall have to deplore the loss of the town-archives, a good library, and a fine picture gallery.

INDIA.

THE TAJ, AT AGRA.-This famous structure having been damaged by late storms, the Indian Government has devoted 300l. to its repair.

A REPORT by the curator of the Lahore Central Museum shows that during the last year nearly 60,000 persons had visited the museum, nearly double the number of the previous year. The increase is ascribed to the museum having been opened to the poorest persons, no check of dress being allowed to interpose. There have been a few losses, but the curator still recommends an adherence to the present plan of making no distinction of persons. No one who has seen a museum in the east can have failed to observe what a wonderful charm it has to the poorest and most illiterate people. They seem never to tire of looking at the swords, and guns, and helmets, and especially the stuffed animals. Every great ruler seems to have perceived this and provided novelties for the people. At the present time museums are progressing in every part of India, British and native,

MISCELLANEA.

"BOYD'S INN, EDINBURGH."-The following inscription has been cut out on an oblong stone at the south end of a new block of buildings at the head of St. Mary Street, Edinburgh "Boyd's Inn, at which Dr. Samuel Johnson arrived in Edinburgh, 14th August, 1773, on his memorable tour to the Hebrides, occupied the larger part of the side of this building."

THE Rev. Dr. Goulburn, Dean of Norwich, is engaged in preparing a work on his cathedral, its history and architec ture.

Palmer, our English master in the art, will shortly be added A COMPLETE collection of the etchings by Mr. Samuel to the Print-Room, British Museum, as a gift from the

artist.

A RUMOUR has reached us that Captain Burton, the great and accomplished African traveller, complains that none of the scientific societies are open at this time of the year. He is bringing home from Palmyra a most interesting collection of skulls, and, more interesting still, the skeleton of a man eleven feet high, which is supposed to be one of the giants of Bashan.

THERE is an ancient author who mentions the old superstition or idea, that as the winter comes on, swallows form their way to the southern climes. Not long ago, a gentlethemselves into a ball and pass under or through the sea on man residing in Basingstoke, on looking out of the window, saw upon the ledge of it a large black ball. Greatly puzzled as to what it could be, he examined it more closely, and it proved to be a conglomeration of swallows, which were all alive and preparing to migrate.

DR. FILKIN, formerly of Tetbury, but late of Richmond, who was ninety-four years of age, has bequeathed his MSS. of "Richmond and the Neighbourhood" to the British Museum, to be handed over to that institution by Sir David Dundas, M.P., in whose possession, he states, they are; and to Sir David he leaves the letters received by him from Dr. Edward Jenner.

THE INDUSTRIAL MUSEUM OF TURIN.-This museum is already one of the most complete institutions of its kind in Europe, and ranks next in importance to the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers of Paris, and the South Kensing ton Museum in London, the first of which has been estab lished eighty-seven years, and the latter sixteen years. This museum is far more complete than those of Berlin and Vienna, and its success is mainly due to the indefatigable exertions of its director, Signor Codazza, and of our countryman, Mr. W. P. Jervis, its able conservator.

THE rarity of old Flemish wall-painting gives a special interest to the discovery recently made (according to the Academy) in the Johanniskirche of Herzogenbusch, of a wall-painting dating from 1447. It has been brought to light from beneath the whitewash, and, except that the colour is somewhat faded, is tolerably well preserved. It depicts Christ on the cross, with the Virgin and S. John; at the foot of the cross is a burgher family of the town, the donors of the picture.

sold by auction by Messrs. Puttick & Simpson, during the A SELECTION from the library of the Penn family will be works on general literature, America, voyages, and travels, early part of the ensuing year. The collection comprises &c., many containing the armorial bookplate of "William Penn, Proprietor of Pennsylvania, 1703," and some few with his autograph.

THE death is announced of Miss Mary Scott, who was the only surviving cousin of the late Sir Walter Scott.