Before relating the curious episode in the history of ecclesiastical institutions which forms the subject of this paper, a few words on the constitution of the institution concerned are necessary.

Beverley Minster, the quasi-cathedral church of the East Riding of Yorkshire, was, until its dissolution in 1548, a college of nine secular canons. The Archbishop of York quà Archbishop was reputed (and disputed) founder, patron, visitor, head, and a canon, besides being lord of the manor and town of Beverley.

Although in his invaluable work on the Ancient Egyptians, Sir Gardner Wilkinson tells us a great deal about the sculpture, the painting, and the furniture of the tomb, and although Lepsius, Prisse d'Avennes, and others give us much information, I have nowhere found that any writer has followed the subject through from the time the order was given to make the tomb until it was completed ready to receive the mummy of the owner. The few notes I now lay before the Society were always made on the spot. My effort has been to draw the evidence from the excavations themselves.

The following pages present the results of an expedition organised in the autumn of 1893 for the purpose of investigating the antiquities of the Boman town of Doclea, in Montenegro, the reputed birthplace of Diocletian. Excavations had already been carried on there during three seasons by H.H. the Prince of Montenegro, to whom the explorers desire to record their grateful acknowledgments, not only for his gracious permission to continue the work so auspiciously begun, but also for the kind reception and many facilities accorded to them. To M. Paul Rovinski also, the skilful director of the former excavations, they owe the warmest thanks. His generous co-operation and his local experience were simply invaluable, and his genial friendship can never be forgotten.

The city of Albi is built on the steep banks of the Tarn, which drains the high table-land sloping gradually from the Cevennes to the vast plain of Languedoc. From whichever side the city be approached the lofty and massive structure of the cathedral church is seen dominating the surrounding buildings. The church, with the adjoining episcopal fortress, crowns the cliff on the left bank of the river. Adjacent to the west end of the church, and occupying the extreme point of the cliff, is the site of Castel-viel, now represented by a group of humble dwellings. Here was once a Gaulish oppidum, and later a Roman fort was erected to protect the ferry over the Tarn, which divided the territory of the Ruteni. This bourg was defended by an important fort belonging to the viscounts of Albi, who held it from their over-lords, the counts of Toulouse, and it was isolated on three sides by the ravines through which the Tarn and its tributary stream the Verdusse run, and on the east side by a moat dividing it from Albi.

When we reflect on the grandeur, wealth, and power of the numerous representatives of Hellenic culture that caused a considerable portion of Italy to be called a greater Greece, we can hardly fail to be struck with the scanty knowledge we possess of their political and social history.

The origin of the commoner breeds of cattle is a question of the greatest interest to the antiquary and historian as well as to the agriculturist and naturalist. It is an inquiry into the history of an animal, which, when wild, was always hunted by man, and, when tame, has accompanied him in all his wanderings; which was domesticated in the far-off ages when it is doubtful whether we can rightly say that man was civilized; which was his standard for barter; his chattel, and the original of all pecuniary transactions; an animal whose remains lie buried with him or accidentally covered up wherever man has been.

To make a satisfactory study of the story of a battle it is no doubt desirable to visit the field of action and examine it carefully with one's own eyes. Where much time has elapsed and many changes have taken place in the aspect of the country the written records are not always easy to interpret; and where even these are scanty and obscure a large number of open questions will naturally be the result. Such has been the case with the famous battle of Bosworth Field, of which we possess virtually only one narrative, and that not written by an eye-witness or even by an Englishman, but by an intelligent foreigner who settled in England some years after. Polydore Vergil, the first writer of a connected history of England, arrived in this country about eighteen years after the battle, and doubtless gained his information about it from those who had seen and taken part in it. The accounts given by the subsequent English chroniclers, Hall, Grafton, and Holinshed, are little more than translations, a little amplified, of the description given by Polydore. Nevertheless, their additions to the narrative, as we shall see, are not without significance.

During the recent excavations on the site of Æsica a remarkable discovery of ancient relics was made. The deposit in question was contained inside the western guard-chamber of the south gate and about 3 feet from its northern wall. Unfortunately the discovery was made in the absence of any trained archaeologist and the data at our disposal are only of an approximate nature. The relics that have come to light consist of two large fibulæ (figs. 4 and 9), a silver collar or chain (fig. 1), a gold Roman ring (fig. 2) set with a moss agate, and another of bronze (fig. 3) set with a nicolo engraved with a gnostic subject, the familiar IAO.

The bronze statuette of Hercules which Lord Carlisle exhibits to-night at the desire of the President is said to have been “dug out of the Roman wall.” But the precise spot appears to be now unknown. One statement gives Northumberland; another, his lordship's property of Naworth, in Cumberland, which is no great distance from the Roman station of Amboglanna (Birdoswald). One could suppose that the bronze had been brought to this country by some officer attached to that camp. That would mean in the time of Hadrian, by whom this station on the Roman wall was established. And were the figure of pure classical workmanship there would not be much more to be said on that point. But you will see that the bronze cannot be of classical origin, and this suggests an alternative that it may have been brought to this country by a devotee of the Tyrian Hercules established at Corbridge, in Northumberland, where an altar to him has been found.

The first exploration of this cemetery in the autumn of 1893, of which I had the honour of laying an account before the Society was of so interesting a character that it was felt both by Mr. Edwin Henty and myself that it would be desirable to ascertain whether other graves did not exist within the limits of the ancient British camp. With this view the examination of the adjoining ground was made in the autumn of last year, and the results not only fully justified the examination, but resulted in discoveries of far greater interest than those previously made, and in one instance, at least, of a character hitherto unknown in England.

The report which we have the honour of submitting to the Society, on behalf of the Executive Committee of the Silchester Excavation Fund, of the discoveries made during the past year, is also the record of the systematic excavation of the site for the sixth successive season.