been murdered in their house, in some sudden piratical attack, to which dwellers on the coast were then constantly exposed, and when the invaders had been driven away, their friends had laid them thus in one grave. A grave we opened the next day also contained the skeletons of a male and female, the lady being placed in this instance on the right hand of her husband, whose forehead rested upon her cheek. On her breast lay an elegant round brooch of silver gilt, set with garnets, and in a perfect state of preservation. In this instance, the greatest number of beads were round the neck of the husband, and a very peculiar and fanciful-formed sword which lay by his side, would lead us to suppose that he was a primitive exquisite of the first magnitude. The brooch would seem to show that the lady also had been dressed in a superior style of elegance to most of the tenants of the surrounding sepulchres which we had yet opened. I am informed by a phrenologist, who examined the head of one of the ladies, which was rather ungallantly carried off by one of our party, that it exhibited a large development of the organ of tune-some lady minstrel of Anglo-Saxon song.

Another rather large grave appeared to have contained three skeleton, among which were traced by the skulls those of an old man and a child. Two of these, instead of being laid flat on the floor, seemed to have been placed in a position reclining with their backs against the two ends of the grave, and almost sitting. With these exceptions, each of the graves we opened contained but a single skeleton, which appeared generally to be that of a man. One had been buried with a fine shield, of which the large boss, and the other parts composed of iron, remained. He seemed to have had no spear, and his sword had crumbled into dust. But the position of the iron-work of the shield enabled us to correct an error of the old antiquaries, who supposed one portion of it (which has been often taken from Saxon barrows) to have been the bracing of a bow. It is remarkable that among the numerous weapons found in Saxon graves, no traces have yet been found either of bows and arrows, or of the battleaxes and "long knives" with which traditionary history (so often in error) arms our Saxon forefathers. Our researches furnished a number of articles, which were all safely deposited in Mr. Rolfe's extensive museum. One of the graves we opened the second day was an unusually large one, measuring between nine and ten feet in length, and five or six feet deep. The body of one man had been laid in the middle, the head and shoulders resting on a pillow of green sod. At his left side lay a spear, rather more than seven feet long, of which the head and the iron tip or ferule at the other extremity, were very perfect. The head of the spear was large, and of an ornamental shape. The decomposed wood of the shaft could be distinctly traced in its whole length. The bones of this body were almost entirely decayed; but his skull evidently lay close by the spear head, and the fragments of his heel bones lay within four inches of its lower extremity, so that he can have hardly been less than six feet six inches in height. He was probably some tall and powerful warrior of his tribe, who had been honoured with a large grave and other marks of distinction. His knife was found, in an advanced state of decomposition, broken into two or three pieces; and mere heaps of black powder marked where the sword, and a considerable number of other articles, had once lain. Bronze, silver, and gold, are the only metals which are found unaffected by the decay incident to the long lapse of time during which they have been deposited in the chalk.

After three days' labours, and having opened about thirteen graves, we left the remainder for some future occasion. About the same number were opened last year. In one of these was found a beautiful pair of bronze scales, delicately shaped, and a complete set of weights formed out of Roman coins. In another, the deceased had been buried with his purse, containing two of the early Saxon coins called Sceattæ, and a gold Byzantine coin, fresh almost as when it came from the mint, of the Emperor Justin, who reigned from 518 to 527. This at once points to the date of the interment, and at the same time proves that the AngloSaxons, at this early period, instead of being an obscure people engaged in desperate warfare with a British population, which had often the mastery over them, were in some sort of intercourse with far distant parts of the world. An interesting discovery of another description was made in the former excavations among these graves. Mr. Rolfe opened one which was decidedly Roman, and another opened by the railway excavators contained a Roman leaden coffin, such as have been found at Colchester and elsewhere, but have never been met with in a Saxon place of sepulture. It is now in the possession of Mr. Rolfe. In both these graves, the interments had been made in the Roman and not in the Saxon manner; so that no doubt can remain on our minds of the fact, that a Roman and a Saxon population lived simultaneously, and probably mixed together in the Isle of Thanet. Further researches on this spot will, doubtless, place this circumstance in a still clearer light.

It is to be hoped that within no long period the whole of these graves will have been examined. They evidently belong to the latter part of the fifth and the sixth centuries, and their contents illustrate a period of the history of our island, concerning which we have no other authentic document. Their peculiar interest arises from the circumstance, that it was the custom of the Anglo-Saxons, before their conversion to Christianity, to bury their dead in their best garments, with their arms and personal ornaments, and with every variety of implement or utensil to which they had shown any attachment. It is, after all, but a melancholy way of making acquaintance with our forefathers of thirteen centuries ago, by raising from the grave the bones which are no longer able to tell us their history; and could they rise and see what is going on around, their astonishment would, doubtless, be equal with, or greater than ours. The outline of the landscape is the same, and the green sea lies before them as of old. They would see again the distant white cliffs of France, which they had known as a friendly shore, inhabited by a kindred race; but it would require some explanation to make them understand how the political feuds and national hostilities of six or seven centuries had made the two peoples "natural enemies." They might even recognise in the battered walls of Richborough, the proud fortress on which they had so often gazed, when the Roman or Saxon garrison issued from its uninjured gates. But they would be ready to shrink back into their graves when they saw its new neighbour, Sandwich, as well as their newer neighbour, Ramsgate, with its protecting pier and harbour,—the majestic shipping with which those well-known waves are now covered-the altered garb and physiognomy of their countrymen-and, above all, that smoking, rumbling railway train, which was the first cause of disturbing them from their slumber of ages.

EXHIBITION OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY.

HONOUR where honour is due! Therefore, because the huge triple painting by Mr. Etty first strikes our eye on entering the large room, let Mr. Etty be first mentioned. For some years past this gentleman has produced rather studies than complete works-delicious nude figures with pulpy flesh and unfinished extremities, voluptuous nymphs languishing in front of splashy backgrounds have merged forth from his pencil, showing his mastery over colour, and his heedlessness as to detail. But this year he gives us three complete works on the large scale-three episodes in the life of Joan of Arc, connected by a common frame and a symmetry of form into one whole. Always admirable is the vigour of Etty, always admirable is the boldness with which he deals out his colour. He may be unfinished, or careless, or rough, or what you will, but weakness is not in his nature-you see the indications of the daring mind and the courageously flourished brush. The three pictures to which we refer are remarkable for vigour of conception. Particularly would we note the one to the left of the spectator, representing the devotion of Joan after she has found the sword. Into that face, that attitude, all that can be imagined of intensity is thrown. There is nothing conventional about this Joan; she bears all the impress of an original creation.

While we are admiring the vigorous colour of Etty, he has also given us a picture in his usual style ("Charities et Gratia"), let us not overlook another sedulous student of the human figure, Mr. Frost. Place his works by the broad, vigorous creations of Etty, and they appear effeminate by the comparison, but his flesh is correctly represented, and there is something exceedingly pleasing in his soft and finished style. His "Una" is a very delicate and elegant picture.

For a work of real, fresh, healthful life, look at the "Drive" of Edwin Landseer. Is there not genuine movement-hurrying, bustling movement in that flock of deer? And the two men in the foreground, ready to fire upon their prey, is there not a fine native ruggedness in their costume and appearance? There is always a perception of animal life in Edwin Landseer-a sympathy with the joys, pains, and terrors of the brute creation, in which he is unrivalled. It is doubtless to an emulation of Landseer that we are indebted for a very fine delineation of brute fury-two fighting deer (the "Combat"), by Mr. Ansdell. The conception is bold, and the manipulation is vigorous. Very quiet, very finished, and very Cuyp-like are the cows of T. S. Cooper ("Drovers halting").

The creative imagination of Maclise has been in full play, and has resulted in a large picture of "Noah's sacrifice." The figure of the patriarch in white drapery is in the centre, about him stand the members of his family in various positions, the animals quitting the ark make a distinct procession in the back-ground, and the summit is formed by a double row of sitting angels. It is impossible for a work to bear more distinctly the marks of its author. It shows all Maclise's fertility of invention, and all his peculiarity of colour. The pair of lovers ("Čome rest in this bosom") by this painter, is remarkable for the intensity of expression given to the tearful countenance of the man, and the composition of the group is very beautiful.

The blaze of brilliancy-the fire-work which is playing round the dim equestrian figure, dazzling you with its glorious indistinctness, is Turner's last production, as, of course, you know at once, without referring to your catalogue. How indefatigable is this artist in searching for new opportunities to display his wonderful knowledge of colour! A year or two back he pinned down a railway train, which was going at full speed, in the midst of a shower of rain, to startle his spectators with a wondrous combination of fire, steam, and atmosphere. Now he rushes to the casting of the Wellington Statue, and thence draws occasion for a new display of his own brilliancy.

What is called the " German school" of painting, is this year much more favourably represented than usual by Mr. Herbert's picture of " Our Saviour subject to his parents at Nazareth." The hardness of outline,

the stiffness of attitude, and the effect of the very positive sky at the back of the figures, belong to the peculiarities of the school. The expression of the Virgin, who is eyeing her son with an earnest veneration, is sublimely conceived, though even this is somewhat frozen down by Germanism. Dyce is less Teutonic than usual this year. His sketch for a fresco, "Neptune assigning to Britannia the empire of the sea," is not without formality, but it is well drawn, and the composition is good.

Of the delicate manipulation, excessive finish, and beautiful distribution of colour, for which Mulready is renowned, his " Burchell and Sophia" is an excellent specimen. The whole is wrought with that nicety, that has almost a porcelain result. Does not the background give some notion of a porcelain perspective?

Leslie is so excellent a painter for illustrating the gaities and gravities of domestic life-is so happy in tearing an unctuous chapter out of one of our old novelists-so perfectly understands the humour of expression and the humour of costume, that one regrets to see him straying into epical regions. "Children at Play," a little party who has formed a coach and horses out of a drawing-room chair and themselves-what can be more cheering and life-like? Who would compare with it the dusky " Martha and Mary," or the morose penitent in the "Pharisee and the Publican ?”

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For brilliancy of colour and a successful attempt to combine together a Hogarth-like variety of character, Mr. E. M. Ward's" South Sea Bubble" is one of the most remarkable pictures of its kind. To illustrate the condition of Change Alley during a period of speculative excitement so great that it has become proverbial, the artist has assembled together an almost countless multitude of personages, and has marked out every one of them with great force and distinctness. A gentleman drinking in the contents of a promising prospectus is the principal figure of the whole, forming the centre to a motley group of people-here a man almost delirious with cupidity, there a lady parting with her trinkets to find means for speculation, there a portly dame marching pompously into the eager crowd attended by her footman. For invention in a limited sphere, for unity of expression got out of one occupation look at the Village Choir" of T. Webster, who has the art of being humorous without drawing caricatures. The "Pulse," from Sterne's Sentimental Journey; a highly-finished picture by Hollins, Ellmore's well drawn and carefully wrought "Invention of the Cotton Room," Egg's "Bianca and Lucentio," strong in expression, should not be passed over. Frank Stone has carved for himself a nice little niche out of the costumes and manners

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of the last century, in which he disports himself very agreeably, placing his characters in pleasing positions, and dressing them to perfection. "Mated," a very fond young lady and gentleman, is a worthy companion to the many interesting couples whom Mr. Stone has introduced to the public. To the lines from Milton's Allegro, beginning, "When the merry bells ring round," we have two very clever pictures of rural merrymaking by Messrs. W. P. Frith and F. Goodall, made up of the usual elements of rustic love, dances on the green, amid pitchers of strong ale. A group in Frith's picture, representing a village damsel displeased at being asked to a dance by a stupid swain, evidently preferring the society of a somewhat sturdy admirer, is remarkable for character and animation.

There are two or three painters who have appealed to the religions feeling of some of their countrymen, and have not worked in vain. If the Teutonic school disseminates something of a Catholic sentiment, Puritanism is not without its representatives, and the more rigid ride of Protestantism really comes out with very good effect. We do not so much allude to "Presbyterian Catechising," a very nice picture, by J. Philip, for, venerable as is the old divine, the artist has evidently a strong sympathy for the light disposition of the more juvenile personages-there is waggery mingled with his reverence-but we mean "Hill-preaching in the West Highlands," by J. Drummond, who evidently paints with earnest faith, and writes that faith on the mild but firm countenance of the preacher, and the devotional attention of the grim tartan-clad Celts. And still more do we mean 66 Quitting the Manse," by G. Harvey. That gentleman does not rush into the arms of the beautiful; he can be happy in the very midst of ugliness. The pastor who quits the Manse in consequence of the events of 1843, how ugly is his countenance! and his little girl, how ugly has she made her eyes by crying!-and how big are all the heads! But mind, there is good substantial stuff in Harvey, and we would rather see his wooden visages than multitudes of pretty conventionalities. Look again at the pastor, and you will see sincerity, and strong-will, and conscientiousness, marked in every line of his uncouth countenance. He is the very man made to be a martyr: not a romantic martyr, in drapery ; but one of the stern, prosaic martyrs, of the northern parts of this island.

The three French artists who have this year favoured us with their contributions, have done themselves very great credit. Delaroche has given a fine characteristic head of Napoleon, finished to the height of continental smoothness, and breathing a most impressive melancholy. Gudin furnishes a "Scene on the Coast of Scotland," in which the transparency of the waves, and the watery aspect of the sky, are highly wrought; and Biard has gone to work on the "Capture of a Slaver by a French Ship of War," like a man fully inspired with his subject. There is something crude and unfinished, not to say repulsive, in the aspect of this picture: some of the figures are exceedingly stiff and odd; but the variety of expression which breaks forth, especially as indicating the joy of the liberated blacks, is wonderful. Every form in which rapture could be conveyed by a rude and unsophisticated people, seems to have been seized by the artist; and a good contrast to the general joy is obtained by the countenance and attitude of the captive pirate, who, though conquered, still looks defiance.