‘Edward Vth ended his reign on the 25th [of June 1483], and with his brother, Richard, then disappears from authentic history. How long the boys lived in captivity and how they died is a matter on which legend and conjecture have been rife with no approach to certainty. Most men believed, and still believe, that they died a violent death by their Uncle's order.’ In these words Bishop Stubbs summed up a mystery which has never failed to fascinate those who have attempted to probe it.

The picture which is the subject of this paper is a canvas measuring 3 ft. 4½ in. in height and 2 ft. 8½ in. in width, now enclosed within a plain narrow gilt frame, which used until recently to hang behind the green baize door of the Bursary at New College, Oxford, and now is hung in the room there known as the Chequer. It was so completely blackened by time that some sixty years ago Warden Sewell attributed it to Richard Haydocke; but, as we shall see, Haydocke was the donor rather than the artist. Recently, even the words ‘Ric. Haydocke’ upon which the Warden had based his inference had become invisible, and indeed the only judgement that could safely be passed upon the canvas was that it was a painting. Some frequenters of the Bursary never even noticed its existence; but the more observant would, after one glance, abandon the attempt to solve its riddle. Nor would any attention have been paid to it, had it not been that, on the Bursary being redecorated, Mr. Albert Rutherston suggested that the picture might be cleaned, and so it has come about that the skill of Mr. B. Comfort of Woodstock has revealed a curious commemoration of the Gunpowder Plot, painted in 1630, the semijubilee of the conspiracy, by the hands, as would seem probable, of John Percivall of Salisbury.

The heraldry of the bosses in the cloisters at Canterbury has been very fully dealt with by our Fellow Mr. Ralph Griffin in Archaeologia, lxvi, 447 ff.; under his direction photographs were taken of every severy and of a great number of the separate bosses, both the heraldic and the non-heraldic. About 120 out of some 800 were reproduced in Archaeologia and a complete set of the prints is in our library. The heraldic bosses in the Chichele porch were described by the same author in Archaeologia, lxxi, 125, where photographs are given of the twenty-nine shields ot arms that appear on the vaulting.

On the soffits of the lancet windows in the north transept of Westminster Abbey there are medallions, four in each window, enclosing demi-figures of angels which bear musical instruments and other objects. The date is about 1250. It is impossible to see these carvings in the ordinary way as the soffits receive no light from the windows and they are about 58 ft. above the floor level. After dark when the Abbey is lit up it is just possible to see that there are carvings, but details are not visible. A spot light is required to see the figures properly and to enable them to be photographed.

In two previous contributions I have tried to trace the development of plate armour in Italy and Spain, and in the following pages it is my intention to attempt to do the same for Germany. Under this name are included for the present purpose all the Teutonic countries within the Holy Roman Empire and Scandinavia. These notes, like their predecessors, are designed to supplement the first volume of Sir Guy Laking's Record, in which he passed lightly over the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in order to devote himself to the later periods from which the bulk of existing armour has descended.

In point of size and grandeur Avebury stands out pre-eminently among the prehistoric stone monuments of Britain. It is, however, decidedly difficult to realize fully what Avebury and its appendages were when in the height of their glory. The monument has been terribly mutilated, and vandalism must have prevailed for many years, if not centuries, to effect the complete destruction of so large a number of the great monoliths.

Some sixty years ago it was found that many of the seals of the charters of Canterbury Cathedral were covered with or had attached to them pieces of silk. Silk at this period, owing to the researches of such scholars as Francisque Michel, Fischbach, and Lessing, was beginning to attract the attention of scholars, artists, and archaeologists. The silks attached to the seals of Canterbury were seen to be interesting or at least unusual. They were taken from the seals, to which as a matter of fact they were detrimental rather than protective, with a view of preserving both seals and bags. Later on, cleaned and restored as far as possible to their original colours, they were placed in glass cases, where they can now be seen and studied.

The theatre at Verulamium, near St. Albans, Hertfordshire, was first discovered in 1847, when a farmer called the attention of a local antiquary, Mr. R. Grove Lowe, to some walls in a field adjoining the Gorhambury Drive. Mr. Grove Lowe succeeded in tracing the main walls of the structure and identifying it as a theatre. For its period, the excavation was excellently carried out, but neither the chronology nor the structural history of the building was ascertained. Neither in 1847, nor during slight trenching subsequently, was anything done beyond uncovering the line of the walls, and it was clear that the original stratigraphical evidence had not been destroyed. It was obviously important that this building, the only known Roman theatre in Britain, should be further examined, and its date, exact position, and plan established. In 1933, therefore, the Earl of Verulam, the owner of the property, was approached. Both he and Lady Verulam at once realized the interest and importance of the site, and not only gave permission for the excavation to be carried out, but on his initiative the Gorhambury estates most generously provided the funds for what was necessarily an expensive undertaking. For this far-sighted and publicspirited action, and for the decision to have the theatre kept uncovered, both archaeologists and the general public owe Lord Verulam a permanent debt.