BURFORD.-This grand old church has undergone restoration, under Mr. G. E. Street, R.A. In the nave the works have been confined to removing the whitewash and plaster with which the walls were covered, refacing the columns of the arches, and thoroughly restoring the roof, which is of chestnut, low pitched, and the timbers are exposed to view. The fine west window has been renovated, and the stained glass, which is very ancient, replaced. In Literature, Science, and Art, will shortly hold its annual the north aisle the old and cumbrous gallery has been re-meeting at Exeter, under the presidency of the bishop of moved; the columns supporting the arches of the nave have been repaired, and the windows-good specimens of the THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.-Her Majesty the Queen has Early Perpendicular style-have been reglazed with cathe- been pleased to signify, through Earl Russell, her gracious dral glass. The chief attraction in the nave is a very unique permission that this society henceforth assume the style and chapel, known as the Priory chapel, and dedicated to St. I title of the Royal Historical Society.

which, judging from the size of the men, are at least as big as half bricks.

The prophet Jonah is treated in a thoroughly conventional manner. The whale is an enormous beast, as unlike any known denizen of the ocean depths as sculptor could well make it. Jonah is being shot forth from its vast jaws, dressed in a riding coat, breeches, and top-boots of the last century.

FOREIGN ANTIQUARIAN LITERATURE. His low-crowned, broad-brimmed hat, which he

ENGLISH people, even those who have a com

seems to have retained on his head during his in

carceration in his living prison, is just falling off petent knowledge of other tongues, have a before him. There only requires to be a huntinghabit of passing over, without notice, the anti-whip in his hand to make the picture perfect. quarian literature of foreign countries in a manner The Swan seems to be a common inn-sign in the which is simply astonishing to our Continental neigh-Netherlands, as in England. It was in an inn so bours. There is more enthusiasm in Britain for named, on the Plaats at the Hague, that Dr. national antiquities than in any other country in the Dorislaus, the. envoy from the English Parliament, world, and less intelligent interest in those of other was murdered by certain reprobate cavalier refugees, places, always excepting the remains of Roman gran- soon after the execution of King Charles I. We do deur, the possession or the affectation of which is not find among the engravings here given, the thought to be a necessary part of classical education. peacock; it is not a very uncommon inn-sign in Insular carelessness is the only reason we can give England. There is a Peacock at Rugeley, and why a book so interesting as De Uithangteekens in others at Boston and Gainsborough. We have verband met Geschiedenis en Volksleven beschouwd, ourselves seen it sculptured as a house-sign, not door I van Lennep en Ter Gouw, has remained un- for an inn, at Rotterdam. known in this country. For unknown we conceive it to be, as we have not seen a single notice of it in any British periodical, and were ourselves quite unaware of its existence until we came across it in a bookseller's shop at Leiden.

Though the Dutch is a sister_language, much nearer to our own than the High German, it is very little studied in this country; but even those who cannot read the letter-press will derive much pleasure from the contemplation of these two profusely illustrated volumes. "A History of Signs in the Netherlands" means much more than such a book does in this country. Signs here have been usually confined to houses of entertainment. There, as every one knows who has strolled for an hour along the quaint streets of Amsterdam, almost every old house has its sign-not gaudily painted, but curiously sculptured on a stone let into the wall.

These signs, or house marks, relate to everything conceiveable in the earth, the heavens, or the imaginations of men. Historical and mythological scenes mingle with heraldry, jests and scripture history; agricultural tools stand grotesquely on one side of the street, while the heavenly bodies watch from the other. We may say, almost without exag geration, that all the herbs are there from the cedar of Lebanon to the "hyssop that groweth on the wall;" and there could have been but few birds or beasts in Noah's ark that are not commemorated in these interesting sculptures.

Tastes differ, but in our opinion this is one of the most interesting books that have been published on social antiquities for many years. We advise all our readers to procure it. If they can read Dutch, so much the better. If not, there is an endless fund of amusement in the engravings. E. P.

RECENT DISCOVERIES IN THE

VICTORIA CAVE, SETTLE. THE explorations carried on by the committee formed, a few years ago, for the purpose of thoroughly investigating the different layers of débris in the Victoria Cave, near Settle, Yorkshire, have always been regarded with much interest,

as the results obtained have been of a kind to excite the attention of archæologists, especially those engaged in prehistoric research. A fresh success has recently been achieved by the discovery of further evidences of ancient occupation, beneath a thick bed of clay which had hitherto not been penetrated. The occupants appear, however, to have been wild beasts, and not men. These discoveries have been brought about by sinking a shaft to a depth of about 30 feet from the original surface, when a great accumulation of bones was met with, extending to an unknown depth. These bones belong to different kinds of extinct animals, as the mammoth, bison, reindeer, red-deer, the great woolly rhinoceros, and the cave bear. The presence, moreover, of the bones and In a notice like this it is impossible to particularize teeth of hyænas shows that this cave must have been the more than a very few of the most curious objects. retreat, or den, of those animals, who probably lived there The very quaintest in the whole series, Joshua in considerable numbers. Their prey no doubt consisted bidding the sun and moon to stand still, may yet be of the mammoth, bison, and other wild animals whose bones seen on a corner house at Amsterdam. The leader are found. These evidences of an occupation of the cave, of Israel stands in front, in Roman costume, with a halbert in his hand; behind him are the armies of prior to that of man, are of an exceedingly interesting the Lord; before him the ground is covered with character, and will serve to reward the labours of those corpses and fleeing enemies; over head the sun may gentlemen who have so unremittingly devoted themselves to be seen with a smiling face in it, accompanied by the crescent moon, also ornamented, according to the ancient manner, with a woman's visage. On the fleeing enemy great square hailstones are falling,

the task of exploration. Hitherto, ornaments and implements of Romano-Celtic workmanship have been the principal objects discovered, besides a few remains from a lower strata which have been assigned to the neolithic age.

original construction, refer you to a few dilapidated ex amples, and then explain some early forms of interest which have come to my knowledge from a personal examination of many of these primeval tombs.

Tumular sepulchres may be divided into two great classes, viz., unchambered or single barrows, which are the most common, and chambered barrows, which, from the gigantic labour necessary for their construction, are less common, and belong to a higher class of architecture. Each of these and in the case of those which are chambered, a distinction again may be subdivided into circular and long barrows; may be drawn between those which are simple kists or stone chests, closed on all sides, and those which have a covered way or passage leading from the outside of the barrow to the inner chamber. It is probable that all these forms were contemporaneous, and that they indicate class or family distinctions among the primitive races who con

BRITISH ARCHEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION. ON Wednesday, the 17th inst., the council of this associa-structed them. We may suppose that those tombs which tion, of whom twenty-five were present, entertained at dinner, at the Albion Tavern, Aldersgate-street, their president, the Earl of Dartmouth. Mr. GOODWIN, F.R.S., was in the chair, supported, amongst others, by Mr. Planche, F.S.A., Somerset Herald; Mr. Harrison Ainsworth, Mr. Levien, F.S.A., Mr.E. Roberts, F.S.A., Mr. R. N. Philipps, F.S.A., Mr. J. Grey, Q.C., Mr. Wright, F.S.A., Mr. Adams,

F.S.A., Mr. Morgan, Mr. Goldsmid, F.S.A., Mr. Pointer, &c.

The congress will be held at Wolverhampton, in the week commencing the 5th of August.

[PROVINCIAL.]

required the greatest amount of physical labour to erect, were the receptacles of illustrious dead; that, as among the more civilized Egyptians of the same era, there were the Pyramids, and the more humble sepulchres of the lowly subjects; so in Western Europe there were the gigantic and distinguished families, and the simple barrows of small tumuli and the richly sculptured chambers of Celtic heroes dimensions, and the unmarked graves of more humble

individuals.

I purpose to confine my remarks to the chambered class of barrows and their contents.

The prevailing notion respecting so-called cromlechs has been this-that they were rude artificial stone structures, always visible, as many are now, but complete in themCARDIFF NATURALISTS' SOCIETY. selves, and altogether distinct from barrows; and this notion THE usual monthly meeting of this society was held in the has settled down so firmly in the minds of men, that some Nisi Prius Court, at the Town Hall, on Tuesday, June 18. archeologists cannot divest themselves of it, and in recent The chair was occupied by FRANKLEN G. EVANS, Esq., vice-works have classified cromlechs and barrows under different president. There was a large attendance. The routine heads. We need not travel far from Cardiff before we find business having been transacted, and some gentlemen two splendid examples precisely similar to those we meet elected members, the following lecture, "On Chambered Tumuli," was delivered by Walter Lukis, Esq. After some appropriate introductory remarks on the objects of the society, and the value of a well-arranged museum, as a means of imparting instruction, the lecturer proceeded as

follows:

Mr. President, ladies, and gentlemen,-The subject upon which I have undertaken to address you to-night is replete with interest. It is interesting as forming a portion of the vast field of tumular sepulchres; as relating to those feelings of the human heart which find expression in monuments of bereavement and sorrow, in gigantic monumental works, and in the performance of funereal ceremonies, altogether different from those to which we are accustomed now; and as belonging to a very remote period of human history.

It is a "grave" subject, and on that ground I shall endeavour to enliven it, so as to preclude, if possible, the chances of some of the grim and mysterious forms upon the walls rising up in magnified horror to disturb your night's sleep.

[After explaining that the word cromlech-derived from the Welsh crom and lech, curved stone; or grymlech, a stone of strength-was not applicable to the subject, and was used in a different sense on the Continent, the lecturer continued:-]

I have preferred giving the title of "Chambered Tumuli" to this lecture, because it will convey to your minds at once the subject matter. It tells of a chamber and of a tumulus, the former being the cromlech, if we must use the word, and the latter its outer covering, without which the former never existed as a building complete in itself. The fact is that hat has been called a cromlech is nothing else than a lapidated chambered tumulus. Now, with this firmly pressed on your minds, I will proceed to describe the

with in other parts. These are to be met with in the parish of St. Nicholas, about six miles from here, on the Cowbridge road, on Mr. Bruce Pryce's property. The one is totally denuded of its tumulus, which appears to have been composed of earth; the other still shows traces of its original mound, which was of small stones.

I may here mention that when I visited these interesting remains, I removed some of the ground and stones around them, which had been thrown out from the interior, with a small geological hammer, and found the human remains now before you, and also some small pieces of coarse pottery, fully proving that these monuments had been used as burial places. The finger bones and toe bones can be easily recognised. There is a third cromlech in Llantrisant parish, on this side of the iron ore mines now being worked there. This spot is called in Welsh Caer-arfa, or the Field of Arms. A Roman camp crowns the hill north of it. There are many others in Wales, Ireland, &c.

It is a remarkable circumstance that no distinct allusion

is to be found in Anglo-Saxon documents to cromlechs as

visible stone structures.

This absence of allusion to cromlechs affords a fair

negative proof of what I shall presently show, viz., that these structures were the chambers of tumuli, and in AngloSaxon times hid from sight. They are very commonly sup posed to be altars erected by the Druids for human sacrifices; but this is quite incorrect.

I will now describe these sepulchres in their original and perfect condition. A mound of earth or small stones, of a conical or long form, enclosed a chamber composed of rude stones placed on end, bearing large stones laid across them, the whole being surrounded sometimes by stones placed at intervals, and sometimes by a fosse and vallum at the base of the barrow. Erections of this kind and in this state may be seen in Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,

suppose that those at New Grange, &c., were all erected at one time.

These side chambers, although generally of small dimensions, were not intended as receptacles for one or two bodies only, as in the instance of the kneeling skeletons, of which I will speak presently; nor to be filled in with earth at the time of the interment, as in the same instance. They were often sepulchral vaults, in the same way that the main structures were, and used during a considerable period for successive burials as in another Guernsey example, where there were as many as three distinct layers of interments.

[Having mentioned that the action of the elements and agricultural improvements were the probable causes of denudation and dilapidation of these stone chambers, which, when thus exposed, became objects of superstitious dread to the peasantry, the lecturer proceeded:-] A monument of this kind, near Marlborough, Wiltshire, is called the Devil's Den. Another, in Berkshire, was believed in Saxon times to be the workshop of their mystic blacksmith Weland, and is to this day called Weland's Smithy, or Wayland Smith's Cave. I will tell you what the country people say of "At this place lived formerly an invisible smith; and if a traveller's horse had lost a shoe on the road, he had no more to do than to bring his horse to this place, with a piece of money, and leaving both there for some little time, he might come again and find the money gone, but his horse

it.

new shod."

You will remember that Sir Walter Scott has availed himself of this tradition, and introduced it into his tale of "Kenilworth."

of a flat pavement of rude flags of granite, on which were placed human bones, burnt and unburnt, sun-burnt jars of coarse earthenware, of various sizes and shapes, clay, stone, and bone beads, bone pins, flint and arrow beads, stone and bone implements. In several instances in Brittany, however, the principal chamber was paved with one large flat stone only.

There were two general modes of disposing of dead bodies: 1, by burying the bones entire; 2, by burning the bodies and collecting the ashes. The only instance of the discovery of an entire skeleton was in the side chamber of the Déhus cromlech, in Guernsey.

I will now describe the manner in which several of these heaps of bones and jars were deposited. Sometimes the jars were found to be empty, in which case it is supposed that they must have contained at one time food for the departed souls. In other cases they held the bones reduced by fire to small fragments. The sepulchral chambers frequently contained several layers of interments. In one there were as many as three. In another instance it was observed that the lower interments must have lain undisturbed for a considerable time before the next layer covered them. This was shown by a skull being found covered with snails' shells (Helix nemoralis), which had hibernated upon its surface, and had died there and become fixed to it, when the second layer of interments was added-a proof, if any were required, that the interior of the chamber was not filled in with earth at the time of each interment, as was the case in Denmark, according to Professor Worsaae.

The following were points which were particularly noticed by us:-1. The jars in the lowest stratum were of a plain, simple, and coarse description. 2. Those in the upper strata were of a better form and of a better material, denoting an improvement in manufacture, some being ornamented with markings. 3. Several of the jars bore marks of use previous to interment, showing that the most valuable and useful articles of daily use were deemed worthy of accompanying the remains of the departed.

Fairies are also believed to have had a hand in the construction of these places, for tables and grottoes: one of the popular beliefs is, that as they descended the mountains, spinning by the way (which, I conclude, is the regular and constant occupation of the fairies), they brought down these huge stones in their aprons, and placed them as they are now found. They are constantly called in many countries fairies' tables, and fairies' holes or grottoes. The stones of Stonehenge, in Wilts, are said to have been brought over from Ireland by the fairies. In Brittany, cromlechs or dolmens are supposed to be haunted by the dur or dwarf, a hideous little old man, who on Wednesday nights, in com-contained food originally. The depositing of food-vessels is pany with the korrigs, or female fairies, dance round about the dolmen, singing songs. The korriggwen, or korrigan, a female fairy, is believed to be the spirit of the druidess, and haunts the mossy well which springs up near the dolmen.

These beliefs are common to Brittany, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and all the north of Europe, and form the subject of ballads in the poetry of all. The day I visited the cromlechs on Mr. Bruce Pryce's property, I met two children playing near one of them. On my asking the name of the spot, they at once replied, "Castell Korrig." I was particularly struck with this word, having so often met with it in Brittany when visiting the Celtic remains in that country.

I will now direct your attention to some of the contents of these sepulchres, and exemplify this portion of the subject by referring to the personal investigations of my father, brothers, and myself. I do this in preference to relating the discoveries of others, because few explorers happen to have had such opportunities as we have of examining primeval structures in which the interments had not been previously disturbed and although these investigations were conducted principally in the Channel Islands, it has been found that the burial customs, as far as has been ascertained, were probably similar in many respects in Great Britain, in Brittany, and in other countries, and I may add, even in this ne ghbourhood, for I have before you this evening a few bones and some pottery picked up by myself at the two cromlechs I have already spoken of.

These facts lead to the conclusion that the sepulchres must have been in use a very long period of time. I have said that some of the jars were supposed to have

a very ancient custom, and had its origin in a belief of the immortality of the soul. It is supposed that the sepulchres were visited occasionally by the relatives who revered the memory of their ancestors, and performed certain rites and ceremonies there, as if in the presence of the residing spirit of the departed, to whom they then gave a share of their food.

You will be somewhat surprised to learn that this custom still lingers amongst us. My brother was informed not very long ago of the following incident at a Yorkshire funereal feast. A gentleman was carving a joint of meat for the invited relatives and friends at the house of a deceased gentleman, when he was requested by the widow to cut some for her departed husband, for whom a place had been reserved at the table, and a plate and knife and fork provided.

But a more remarkable instance of the indulgence of this feeling is to be found in the custom prevailing in the family of Victor Hugo, who is residing in the island of Guernsey, In his dining-room there is a chained and empty chair. wherein the ghosts of the dead Hugos are supposed to sit at the table of their descendants. Whether this be really a superstition of the poet, or only the play of an intense imagination, or whether it be a sad monument of later and no imaginary sorrow, I know not.

It were easy to ridicule the indulgence of such a fancy; easy also to speak of it severely as morbid; but there is a fine thought in it. "The dead are gone from us," says the Generally speaking, after digging through a mass of rub-chained chair, "but we have not forgotten them; and if bish, the accumulation of many centuries, the floor of the they would come and sit at our table again and occupy tomb was reached. It was then observed that it consisted their old seat, they would be welcome."