In September 1910 I heard that houses had been pulled down on the north side of Merchant Taylors’ Hall, and that various interesting discoveries had been made. Mr. Reader and I went there together, and an elevation and plan drawn by him of Roman remains then found are given in Archaeologia, vol. lxiii. They record the position of a Roman floor near the hall resting on gravel about 17 ft. 6 in. below the present ground level.

According to the text-books, the celt is the predominant type of implement in the neolithic period, just as the coup de poing (hand-axe) is in the palaeolithic; and it is curious that the relationship between these two widely distributed forms should not have been already demonstrated. It is reasonable to expect that there was some link between at least the commoner implements of these two parts of the Stone Age, now that the great hiatus is reduced to insignificant dimensions; and it is natural to look for transition forms in the great Cave-period, ranging from Le Moustier to the pygmy period (also named after Tardenois). A plausible theory is that the tranchet or fan-shaped implement of the Danish kitchen-middens, with its cutting-edge formed by detaching a single transverse flake, was the parent of the neolithic celt; but the tranchet is rare outside the Danish area, and quite unknown in the greater part of Europe. On this account alone its claim might be rejected, as the Danish form would hardly explain the celts of Britain and western Europe, not to mention examples in other continents; and its priority in Denmark itself is challenged by still earlier finds (Maglemose), which reveal other and different forms, not associated with the kitchen-midden axe, but linking the early Danish Stone Age with the culture of La Madeleine. In spite of this, the prevalent notion is that the kitchen-middens are the earliest neolithic remains in existence, and that among them must therefore be found the prototype of the celt.

The results of many years' search and inquiry are included in this paper, which is supplementary to the account of the Caddington palaeolithic ‘floor’ given in the author's Man the Primeval Savage (1894). The deposit has now been recognized in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, Caddington beingformerly divided between the two counties; and the discoveries here to be described must be regarded as originally connected with the Caddington ‘floor’, though the three sites are now isolated hills separated by rivers that have formed, and considerably deepened, their channels since man was living in the neighbourhood during the formation of the brick-earth. The two new sites are dealt with separately, and as far as possible on similar lines, so as to facilitate comparison.

The communication which I now have the honour to lay before the Society of Antiquaries presupposes a knowledge of the contents of my two papers concerning Jersey antiquities already published in Archaeologia. I beg to thank the Society for enabling these successive reports on the excavations of La Cotte de St. Brelade to be printed and illustrated on so generous a scale. I would here take the opportunity of likewise acknowledging my debt to many other helpers: first, to Mr. G. F. B. de Gruchy, Seigneur of Noirmont, and owner of the cave, who has not only made over the whole of the treasure-trove to public institutions, providing funds into the bargain in order as it were to exploit him-self, but has throughout been my constant adjutant and co-worker; then to my Oxford friends and pupils who have at considerable cost to themselves taken part in the work for weeks and months together, Captain A. H. Coltart and Mrs. Coltart, Mr. T. B. Kittredge, Mr. B. de Chrustchoff, Miss Bayly, Mr. R. de J. Fleming Struthers, the Rev. E. O. James, Mrs. Jenkinson, Mr. P. H. Brodie; next, to Jersey residents innumerable, most of them ardent members of the Societe Jersiaise, such as, to mention but a few, Mr. E. T. Nicolle, Mr. J. Sinel, the late Dr. A. Dunlop, Mr. H. J. Baal, Mrs. Briard, Mrs. Symons, Mr. G. Le Bas, Mr. A. H. Barreau, Mr. E. F. Guiton, the two last-mentioned gentlemen having as draughtsman and photographer respectively helped largely to make our results intelligible by way of the eye; and, finally, to the many experts who have in various ways assisted in the interpretation of what we brought to light, among them being Sir Hercules Read and Mr. Reginald A. Smith of the British Museum; Dr. A. Smith Woodward and Dr. C. Andrews of the British Museum of Natural History; Dr. A. Keith of the Royal College of Surgeons; and Professor W. J. Sollas and Mr. H. Balfour of Oxford. Let me add, in order to save the face of my kind allies and advisers, that I am in the last resort responsible for every statement of fact or opinion that appears here.

In the winter of 1363–4 three foreign kings came to England and were entertained by Edward III in London, whilst a fourth had also intended to come. It was a sufficiently remarkable event and as such was duly recorded by the chroniclers of the time. A civic legend has long passed current that all the four foreign kings and Edward III were present together at a banquet given by Henry Picard, a vintner and sometime mayor of London. The Feast of the Five Kings has accordingly been commemorated in the painting by Mr. Chevalier Taylor, presented to the Royal Exchange by the Vintners Company.

The discovery of this important neolithic temple enriches the unique series of Maltese monuments and, besides demonstrating afresh the importance of the Maltese Islands in prehistoric times, sheds a flood of light on the other monuments so far discovered.

The site on which the monument was raised is not very far from the Hal-Saflieni Hypogeum and the Cordin stations, which may well be considered to be upon the same plateau.

The important series of antiquities that forms the subject of this communication was discovered at Hallstatt in the Salzkammergut, Austria, about the year 1869. The exploration was undertaken at the instance of Sir John Lubbock (afterwards Lord Avebury), and it is believed that a journal was kept of the daily results, as appears to have been the case in all instances where authorized digging took place on the site. Unluckily in the interval between 1869 and the present time the journal referring to Lord Avebury's exploration has disappeared, and we thus lack an important part of the information that it should have furnished, viz. the indications as to what objects were associated together, and whether the interments to which they belonged were by cremation or by inhumation. While this loss is much to be regretted, yet the absolute value and importance of the series is still very great, both as typical of the period which stands prominent as the classical example of a cultural turning-point in the history of the arts, and as filling a very serious gap in the evolutionary series in the national collection.

When I last had the honour to bring a Wardrobe Account to your notice, I prefaced my remarks with a short explanation of how the office of the Wardrobe, originally a store-house, gradually became one of the chief purchasing departments of the Royal Household. The principal document to which I shall draw your attention to-night shows the Wardrobe more in its original aspect; the materials and articles referred to were all handed out from store for a specific purpose, and no purchases are recorded. A search through the general accounts immediately before this special one would no doubt result in finding much of the material here dealt with and the price paid for it, but I thought it best to leave those accounts to be dealt with at some future time in their entirety.

From the earliest times every monastery had buildings for different purposes used regularly by the inmates. The chief of these in the course of time and with the experience of use came to be systematically placed with respect to one another, and the plan of a square court surrounded by the chief buildings of the convent quickly became general.