In November, 1886, being at Aylesford in company with my father Dr. John Evans and with Dr. Sebastian Evans, we paid a visit to the sand and gravel pit belonging to Messrs. Silas Wagon and Son, our immediate object being to search for palaeolithic implements which had been discovered at this spot. Our attention was then called to another and highly interesting discovery that had just been made whilst removing the surface earth, which here to a depth of about three feet covers the old river deposits. This consisted of a bronze pail or situla (fig. 11), and a small fragment of another, an ænochoê (fig. 14), a long-handled pan or patella (fig. 16), and two fibulæ (figs. 17, 18), also of bronze, together with calcined bones and fragments of earthenware vases. On examination the situla proved to be a characteristic example of that peculiar style of art which had taken root in Britain during the century or so that preceded the Roman Conquest, and to which Mr. Franks has given the name of “Late-Celtic.” The ænochoê, or bronze vase, the pan and fibulæ were also of great interest as representing imported specimens of late Greek or Italian fabrics. The earthenware vases themselves exhibited an elegance of form and a style of manufacture such as had not yet been associated with British remains in this country, and which, as I hope to show, point not less distinctly to Gaulish and in a somewhat remoter degree to North Italian connexions.

I am enabled by the kindness of a friend in Canterbury to place before the Society a tracing and a photograph of the wall painting which has been recently discovered in the apse of St. Anselm's chapel in Canterbury cathedral church, together with a ground plan of the chapel, showing its position. The painting is worthy of attention: first on account of its antiquity, and secondly on account of the singular fact that for seven hundred years it has been hidden from sight.

The papyrus which is transcribed and translated in the following pages is preserved in the collection of Egyptian antiquities in the British Museum, where it bears the number 10188. It was found at Thebes in the year 1860, and was purchased by the late Mr. A. H. Rhind; in 1865 it was sold to the trustees of the British Museum by Mr. David Bremner, together with a number of other papyri collected by Mr. Rhind. A few years later its existence was pointed out by Dr. Birch to Dr. Pleyte, who wrote a short article upon it, in which he gave a description of the chapters and translated some passages principally from the first work written on the papyrus. In November, 1886, a further account of it was given by me, together with hieroglyphic transcripts of some important passages in it.

The following notes, mostly made on the spot, record the discovery of a further portion of the Roman wall of London, and give such details respecting its construction as it has been possible to observe.

The Government having determined to erect additional buildings to the General Post Office in St. Martin's le Grand, certain steps were taken in order to ascertain the nature of the ground on which these buildings were to be placed. For this purpose, in the latter part of 1887, shafts were sunk along a line from Aldersgate Street to King Edward Street, some yards south of the old money order office and parallel to Bull and Mouth Street, a street now swept away. In sinking these pits the workmen came upon the Roman wall, and afterwards, as the process of preparing the site for the new buildings proceeded, a considerable fragment of it was unearthed running east and west, and extending from Aidersgate Street on the one side to King Edward Street on the other. It was found that the line of buildings and walls forming the southern boundary of the churchyard of St. Botolph, Aldersgate Street, was based upon this wall, and it seems very probable that the churchyard and church above named partly occupy the ground filling up the original ditch.

The roll of the Deans of Lichfield will favourably compare with those of any of our cathedral churches of the old foundation. Several of them have been distinguished scholars and theologians; one or two of them made some mark in the history of their country at a time when high ecclesiastics were frequently statesmen; twelve of their number obtained preferment to sees episcopal and archiepiscopal; whilst three, including the present Dean (whose name will ever be associated with the noble restoration of the west front of the cathedral church), were for many years Prolocutors to the Province of Canterbury.

Our Fellow Mr. A. J. Butler has been kind enough to draw my attention to the very interesting old manor house of Tiptofts, near Saffron Walden, in Essex, which is now used as a farm-house, and is the property of Brasenose College, Oxford, of which Mr. Butler is the Bursar. On visiting the place I was much surprised to find that the original house, built wholly of oak, of which a considerable portion still exists, is as early in date as the second half of the thirteenth century.

This recently discovered Roman villa stands at the foot of a hill, in a very beautiful situation, in one of the valleys of the Cotswold hills, about three miles from Winchcombe, in Spoonley Wood.

This elevated and yet sheltered district, with its rich soil and fine timber, appears to have been a favourite place of residence for wealthy Romans.

Remains of several other houses of Roman date have been found within a short distance of Spoonley, and no doubt many others still remain hidden below the soil.

Scattered up and down England in museums, churches, and private collections, are a number of small sculptured tablets or panels of alabaster, of which the principal feature is a head lying on a dish or charger, generally flanked by figures of saints and sometimes with other accessories.

These tablets have been more or less a puzzle to antiquaries for a long time, and various conjectures have been put forward as to the meaning of the subjects represented.

Having for some time been collecting evidence on the use of these terms, I think it may be acceptable to our Society to have the results brought before them in a systematic form, and the more so, because we find what I cannot but regard as mistakes on the subject, not only made but defended, in quarters where we should least of all expect anything of the kind. I think I am able to show conclusively that, except during the last half-century, the terms “pastoral staff” and “crosier” have all but invariably been applied to the same thing, namely a bishop's crook, and that the term “crosier” was scarcely ever applied to an archbishop's cross until about 1826. About ten years later, the new nomenclature all at once manifested extraordinary vitality, and was regarded by Anglican ecclesiologists as strictly “correct.” We find it even in the writings of Blore, M. H. Bloxam, J. H. Parker, the younger Pugin, Dr. Hook, Webb, Haines, Boutell, Browne of York, Lee, Blunt, Shipley, Marriott, Mackenzie Walcott, Mrs. Jameson, and Fairholt, also in several dictionaries, though not in that of Skeat. Roman Catholic writers of the old school, unaffected by the Anglican eccelsiological revival, such as Bishop Milner, used the terms in the old English way.

On the 27th February last we had the honour of laying before the Society a communication on the desirability of the complete and systematic excavation of the site of Silchester.

The scheme therein set forth, which had already been sanctioned by the Duke of Wellington, the owner, and by Mr. Cooper, the tenant, met with the cordial support and approval of the Fellows present, and it was unanimously referred to the Council to consider the steps necessary for carrying it out.