"THE OLD HOUSE AT ENFIELD." a thin sheet of metal on a soft surface and "punching" it up. The shield of Achilles was executed IN the last number of LONG AGO, the impending in this manner. Two fine examples of bronze destruction of a fine specimen of the Queen repoussé, the shoulder plates of a cuirass embossed Anne period of domestic architecture was a subject. with heroes combatting Amazons, and a mirror of apparently unavailing regret. We are happy to case with the marriage of Anchises and Venus, announce that that feeling has been greatly modiare in the British Museum. Silver repoussé work fied by a resolution come to (mainly through the was used for the incrustation of vessels. The instrumentality of Mr. Batterbury) by the authorelievi (also called crusta) were let into frames or rities of the South Kensington Museum to pursettings on the vessels, and called emblemata. chase and preserve the centre part of the house Pliny tells us this beautiful art had died out in his which contained the exquisitely carved brickwork, time, and that works chiselled out of the solid alluded to in our last. With a view to making silver had taken the place of the colatura or more permanent a record of this almost unique specirepoussé work. Fortunately, a few examples of men of domestic architecture, we have had a pentorentic work have come down to us. First, there and-ink drawing of the house, made by Mr. Batteris the "Corbridge Lanx" (or large dish), preserved bury some two years ago and kindly lent to us by at Alnwick, which had been buried with an altar that gentleman for the purpose, photo-lithographed, dedicated to Hercules. The Pythia Herophile as the first of a series of reproductions of original (enthroned upon the omphalos) with Themis, sketches of things "past and passing away" which Pallas, and Diana are represented upon it. In we shall make an occasional feature of LONG AGO. 1830, the discovery at Bernay in Normandy of the At the top of the page the front of the house is treasure of the local divinity (Mercurius Canne-shown as it stood, up till the last few months, and tonensis) gave us some exquisite canthari and beneath are etchings of the cherubim, foliage, &c., flagons enriched in this exquisite manner. And carved in the solid brick. The local paper gives last, not least, we have the Hildesheim treasure, an account of the demolition of the house, in discovered in 1868, so admirably reproduced by the course of which some discoveries were made MM. Christofle et Cie., who exhibited specimens of indicating a somewhat earlier date than we had the fac-similes in the late International Exhibition. conjectured as the probable period of its erecThe treasures of this "find" are well described by tion:-"Whilst engaged removing some of the M. Darcel in "Merveilles de l'Art et de l'Industrie," and M. Wieseler in "Der Hildersheim Silberfund" (Bonn, 1868). One of the most beautiful pieces is the patère with a figure of Minerva at the bottom. This and one or two other pieces are of the finest Greek art, but others in the same "find" are of a much later period. In fact, one or two pieces show traces of enamel, and these must be as late as the second century. A beautiful effect is produced in the Minerva patère by gilding parts of the drapery, &c. It has been suggested, partly from the way in which they had been concealed, that this treasure formed the booty of some barbarian chief. Large sums were paid by Roman collectors for good works decorated in this manner. Pliny says Crassus, the orator, paid £1,000 (100 sestertia) for a pair of bowls by Mentor. Other celebrated artists were Acragas, Boethus, and Mys. None of these beautiful works appear to have been executed in gold, that metal not being common enough then. At a subsequent period gold was employed by the Roman artists as in the Patère de SOME RECENT DISCOVERIES IN THE Rennes in the Paris Bibliothèque. JOHN PIGGOT, JUN, F.S.A. MR. EDWARD THOMAS, F.R.S., has been elected corresponding member of the French Academy, for his contributions to oriental numismatic archæology. work, a panel was disclosed bearing the figures 1622 and the name Johnstone,' and there is little doubt that the figures refer to the year in which the house was erected, and the name to the builder. Some coins have been found, one of which bears the impress of Charles I., and the rest are of late date." Meanwhile the destruction of old suburban man sions proceeds with rapid pace. Essex House, Putney, will soon be in the hands of the "dealer in old building materials." It has some fine old ceilings with casts of the Royal Arms of England and the monograms of Queen Elizabeth, and is said to have been built as early as 1596, on the site of an older house. [We regret that the unfavourable state of the atmosphere has prevented Mr. Akerman (in whose hands we have placed the drawing for reproduction) from having the photo-lithograph ready for the March number of LONG AGO.-EDITOR.] COUNTY OF WARWICK. DURING the past autumn, whilst preparing a map of Warwickshire, showing the ancient earthworks and Roman remains, which have been noted and described within the county boundary, and closely adjoining, I found that there were two or three blank districts, of which no note had been taken. Along the ancient ledge of that neighbourhood is very minute, and trackways and Roman military roads, which can we had literally to force our way through the yet be traced along the boundary of the county, thick brushwood across and round the mound tumuli, earthworks, and traces of Roman occu- and entrenchments which we found within Barpation have long been noted and described. moor Wood, which appears to have formed Along the course of the river Avon, until it a part of the ancient Forest of Arden. We esticrosses the Fossway, in the neighbourhood of mated the extent of the earthworks at between Wappenbury, where there are considerable three and four acres. They are strongly marked, Roman remains, there are abundant signs of but what appears to have been the outer vallum a large population. The Fossway then con- is considerably altered and modified by the fence tinues its course in a south-westerly direction which surrounds it. The plan and arrangement to Moreton-in-the-Marsh, and along its course closely resemble a similar camp at Beausal, for twenty miles; the entrenchments of the some six miles to the eastward. On the north Roman Camp at Chesterton alone show the there is a well-defined causeway across the foss foot-prints of the Roman settlers, whilst the which is twenty feet wide and some twelve feet remains of British settlements have not been deep, and this causeway connects the enclosure noted. On the verge of the county, Roman with an open plateau which commands an exremains can again be discerned. Throughout tensive view in every direction. The plan of this portion of its route the Foss crosses the the camp is slightly oval, and at its broadest champaign country, known as the Feldon, which part is 150 paces. We could not secure a more appears for a long period to have been accurate survey in consequence of the thicket. debateable ground between the ancient tribes On the southern side the hill was sharply -the Roman, and still later the Saxon escarped, and this had been increased by excavasettlers. There is no station marked on tions for marl. This camp completes the line of any of the Roman itineraries along this route fortresses between Alcester and Lilbourne. In though there appears to have been communica- all probability the great stronghold of the tribes tion between the Roman stations at Tripontium who occupied these fortified hill-tops was the (Lilbourne), Benones (High Cross), on the mound at Henley-in-Arden, the ancient name of east, and the settlement at Alauna (Alcester), on which was Donnilee, but was changed by the There must, therefore, have been a De Montforts to Beaudesert. This mound is road, or trackway, from Wappenbury along the only two miles distant from Barmoor Wood. northern bank of the Avon; and this, there is Encouraged by this discovery, I turned my abundant evidence to prove, was the more attention to the southern side of the Avon. ancient trackway, for it appears to have con- My first discovery was a tumulus close by an nected a series of British forts with each other. ancient ford in the parish of Tachbrook, midway These forts were either connected with or were between Chesterton Camp and Warwick Castle. in the immediate neighbourhood, and within About one mile to the east of Chesterton is a sight of tumuli along the entire route. These huge mound bearing the name of Frismore Hill, forts appear to have been the frontier fortresses adjoining the Fossway. Seven miles to the of the Cornavii, and before which Ostorius west on the same road is Friz Hill, where many Scapula paused in his course northwards. The Saxon remains have been found. The hill frontier fortresses of their southern neighbours opposite, on the north, is Red Hill, and within can be as easily traced on the bluff headlands, the wood which crowns its summit, I found a on the southern side of the Feldon, some ten to well-defined large entrenchment, which has not twelve miles distant. Of these northern strong- yet been accurately surveyed. This opened up holds, only two or three are marked on the Ord- a new field, for this hill was in a line with Meon nance Map; indeed, the existence of some of Hill, in Worcestershire, and seemed to indicate them was unknown a few months ago. that there were the remains of old settlements between Meon Hill and Napton. the west. In the course of the autumn, an agricultural friend, Mr. Cook, of Snitterfield, directed my attention to some earthworks, which he stated were in Barmoor Wood, about midway between Claverdon and Henley-in-Arden, and it may be found on the Ordnance Map, between the CrabMill and Cherry-Pool. I took an early opportunity of visiting the spot, and by the courtesy of the occupier of the farm, was enabled to inspect the wood at my leisure. I was accompanied by Mr. Thomas Gibbs, whose know At Hodnell, about a mile from a Roman entrenchment, marked on the Ordnance map, the sites of two deserted and abandoned villages can be traced, and on the summit of the hill, to the north, I found a small tumulus, and two long parallel banks of earth, 50 yards apart and from 100 to 150 yards long. The northern valla fell away on the hill side, so as to form a series of terraced steps with intervening fosses. A well was found in a hollow to the east. On the op posite hill there are further remains which WE OUR NATIONAL RECORDS. were compelled last month to break off in the middle of our account of the valuable collection of archives now collected within the walls of the Record Office. cellor's scribe, is still in existence, and is used to supply the place of the lost roll. Besides this series there is a roll which was long looked upon as the roll of the first year of Henry II., or by some as belonging to the fifth year of King Stephen, but recent criticism has completely established the fact that it is none other than the roll of the 31st year of Henry I., the earliest national document, save Domesday," of any extent that now exists. The Controller's or Chancellor's Rolls (an imperfect series of duplicates of the Great Roll of the Pipe) are lodged in the British Museum. 66 Another important class of documents belonging to this Court, are the Memoranda Rolls which run After a glance at the Essoin Rolls, the Declara- from 2 Henry III. to about the year 1842. They tions in Ejectment, the Certificates of Married contain enrolments of all the weighty business done Women, the Proceedings in Error, the Doggett in the offices of the Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Rolls, the Writs of Outlawries, the Posteas, Remembrancer. Upon their ancient membranes and the Remembrance Rolls, we now pass on to the the searcher will read how writs ran for the recovery Court which, next to the Chancery, contains the most of debts due to the Crown; how commissions were interesting and valuable series of documents which appointed to seize estates attainted or forfeited to our Public Records possess. The ancient Court of the Crown; how goods were seized in the various Exchequer was introduced into England by William ports of England for the non-payment of customs; the Conqueror, and was not finally_abolished how the accounts of sheriffs and escheators were till the reign of her present Majesty. By statutes settled with the Exchequer; how cities and boroughs passed, however, in the reigns of George III. and made claims to certain privileges; how priests and William IV. most of the ancient duties were an- laymen pleaded for the possession of various rights nulled, and such as remained were transferred to the and franchises; and how the numerous proceedings Queen's Remembrancer. Shortly after the acces- in Equity on English informations and bills were sion of Queen Victoria the equity jurisdiction of conducted. The Brevia Regia, indorsed on the this Court was removed to Chancery, and on the Memoranda Rolls, are the most ancient writs of remodelling of the office of the Queen's Remem- that description in the kingdom; in the earlier brancer the abolition of the ancient Exchequer was times they assume the shape of letters, and contain completed. But though its authority is now extinct, various wishes of the sovereigns. its valuable collection of records is in an excellent state of preservation, and remains carefully classed with our other national archives. In this collection is the Great Roll of the Exchequer, otherwise called the Pipe Roll. Everything which in former times went to swell the revenues of the Crown-rents of various kinds, fines, amercements, profits of lands and tenements, and the like-is to be found enrolled upon it. The accounts of the ancient revenue of the Crown, digested under the heads of the several counties, and annually written out in order to the charging and discharging of the sheriffs and other accountants, are also to be seen upon it. Was a great man outlawed, his goods seized, his daughter married or made a ward, the account thereof can be read in the Pipe Rolls. To the antiquary and historian the collection of archives, called Originalia Rolls, which run from Henry III. to William IV., are of great service. They not only throw considerable light upon the manners and customs in vogue in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, but also record the descent of lands, questions relating to Crown revenues and feudal tenures, the appointments of various commissions for different purposes of investigation, and other similar entries. The importance of the Originalia Rolls is also increased from the fact that they contain numerous extracts from early rolls now no longer in existence. Among the documents of the ancient Exchequer the ecclesiastical historian will be interested by the fertile collection of ministers' accounts of the issues and profits of monastic lands in the hands of the Few of our national archives boast a more un- Crown; by the pensions granted to abbots and interrupted succession than the Great Rolls of the others upon the dissolution of the monasteries now Exchequer. Beginning from the second year of enrolled amid the records of the Augmentation Henry II., they continue to the present time with Office; by the accounts of monasteries, contained but two gaps-the loss of the rolls of the first year in the Chartularies and Leidger Books, in the Acof Henry III. and those for the seventh year of count Books of First Fruits and Tenths, and in Henry IV. Of the latter of these missing rolls, the Taxation Rolls which regulated the taxes as however, the antigraph, or roll made by the Chan-well to our kings as to the popes until the survey of King's Lands (temp. Commonwealth), the Recusants' Roll, and the curious Wardrobe Accounts. The Records of the Treasury of Receipt of Exchequer Department are also, in an historical point of view, a most important, though not extensive, collection. Henry VIII.; by the Valor Ecclesiasticus of the various enrolments of Accounts and AffidaHenry VIII., which contains surveys of arch- vits, the documents of the Augmentation Court (a bishoprics, bishoprics, abbeys, monasteries, and the rich mine to the Church historian), the voluminous like throughout the kingdom; by the Visitations of series of Bills and Answers (Elizabeth to 1841), Religious Houses, in the Wolsey Books, in the the collection of Special Commissions, the Court Nonæ Rolls. Rolls of Manors possessed by the Crown (Edward I. The collection in the Exchequer which records to Charles I.), the Decrees and Orders made by the the history of Knights' service is perhaps the most Exchequer in all causes and matters there dependinteresting. The number of Knights' Fees through- ing (1580-1841), the enrolments of Escheators' out the kingdom was 60,215, of which the clergy Accounts (Edward I.-James I.), the Exannual Rolls, had 28,015; but as in process of time it became a the Extents and Inquisitions (1685-1842), Fee doubtful question whether lands were held by Farm Rents, reserved upon grants from the Crown, Knights' service or by some other tenure, inqui- the Golden Bull of Clement VII. conferring the sitions were held, and each baron had to return to title of Defender of the Faith upon Henry VIII., the king an account of what he held. Such Hearth Money Accounts, the Imprest Rolls, the accounts, comprising as they do the early history Judgment Rolls of the Exchequer of Pleas, the of landed property, with the names of the owners various Inventory Returns, the Jews' Rolls, the and the extent of estates, are of considerable ser- Land Revenue Accounts, the vast collection of vice to the antiquary, historian, and genealogist. Crown Leases, the Parliamentary Surveys of the For information on this subject, the three great authorities are the Black and Red Books of the Exchequer, the Scutage Rolls, and the Subsidy Rolls. Of these records the Liber Niger is the most ancient. It contains a list of Knights' Fees of the time of Henry II., and in many of the returns appear family names and particulars of the parents, children, wives, and occupiers of the land as well as of tenants in capite. In this book there are also various treaties of Henry II., four bulls of Pope Alexander, and the constitution of the Royal Household temp. Henry II. There are three Black Books of the Exchequer-the Liber Niger containing the Dialogus, one containing the Constitution, and the Liber Niger Feodorum. This fact is not so well known as it should be. The Red Book is somewhat similar to the Liber Niger, and contains, among other entries, Knights' Fees and Serjeanties of the reigns of Henry II., Richard, John, and Henry III. Many of its entries are also in the Black Book. The Scutage Rolls, which begin in the reign of Edward I., contain the pecuniary satisfaction paid by each knight in lieu of the personal attendance upon his sovereign that was required of him. This satisfaction was called scutagium, or servitium scuti (service of the shield), and in Norman French escuage, from ecu, a shield. The assessment was, however, so arbitrary that it was decreed by Magna Charta that no scutage should be imposed without consent of Parliament. The Subsidy Rolls record the supplies given gratuitously to the king by his tenants to aid him in his wars and emergencies. In addition to the above are the Marshal's Rolls, which contain an account of the military service due from great tenants to the king on the eve of a war; the Testa de Nevil, and the one solitary roll called the Constable's Roll. Among the more important documents belonging to the ancient Exchequer collection are to be found In addition the various records which we have touched upon, belonging to the Courts of Chancery, Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, and Exchequer, there is a large class of documents which appertain to obsolete Courts, and many of which are of great historical value. The chief of this series are the archives belonging to the Star Chamber, the Court of Requests, the Court of Chivalry, the Court of Wards and Liveries, the Marshalsea Court, and the records of the Welsh Courts, the jurisdiction of which latter Courts ceased in 1836, when their duties were transferred to the English Courts and their records moved to Fetter-lane. All these documents are open to inspection. The amalgamation of the State Paper Office, but a few years ago, with the Record Office has been the means of rendering the series of our national archives now an almost complete collection. With the exception of certain documents in the British Museum and in a few public libraries, most of the public muniments of the realm are now placed in one Repository, and under the supervision of the Master of the Rolls. One consequence of this incorporation has been the publication of calendars of the State Papers. Late in the year 1855 the Master of the Rolls stated to the Lords of the Treasury that, although "the records, State papers, and documents in his charge constitute the most complete and perfect series of their kind in the civilised world," and although "they are of the greatest value in a historical and constitutional point of view, yet they are comparatively useless to the public from the want of proper calendars and indexes." The suggestion of Lord Romilly Rev. James Beck, Rev. T. Hugo, Rev. J. Knowles, was at once adopted by the Treasury, and the work of calendaring the State papers intrusted to the hands of the Record officials and other writers. Several volumes have already appeared, and though the task has comparatively but recently been undertaken, calendars of the reigns of Henry W. H. Bloxam, T. Q. Couch, Robert Day, John VIII. (when the series of State papers begin), Edward VI., Mary, Elizabeth, James I., and part of the reigns of Charles I. and Charles II. are well nigh completed, while various calendars relating to Scotland, Ireland, the Colonies, and to the archives of Spain and Venice, have at the same time been published. While on this subject, and as illustrative of the working of this department, it may be as well to allude to the jealous care with which the State Paper branch of our public records is guarded. Every State Paper, whether appearing I cannot here attempt to give anything like a in the form of a bundle or of a bound book, is catalogue of such a large collection, numbering as stamped with the office seal, and has every one of it did, nearly 1,200 objects, and I must refer the its pages carefully numbered. Both before its issue reader to Mr. John Evans' able paper "On the to the public and on its return from the searcher Bronze Period," read before the society on the 23rd it is carefully examined by specially-appointed January, for a scientific and able résumé of all the officers of the Department. By this means the numerous varieties of bronze implements and mutilation or suppression of a document, should weapons. Suffice it to say, that the most numerous such a case ever arise, would be instantly followed class was, of course, that of the axe-heads or celts. by exposure. No case of mutilation, however, Here they were in all their forms: at first rude and has occurred. The State Papers from the earliest simple, like those of stone, then with their shapes times down to 1760, and some papers even to a better developed, grooved, socketed, with loops or still more recent date, are now open to the public. rings for securing them to their handles, and some The custody of the public records is not con- even with ornamentation in neat patterns. A few fined to the ancient and modern rolls of our courts were of so small a size that it is difficult to imagine of law, but also extends to the more recent papers what was their use. Palstaves were also in great of our offices of State. Hardly a day passes but numbers, as were knives, chisels, gouges, awls, and that important documents either from the Trea- one or two fish-hooks of similar form to those of sury, the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office, the the present day. Among the arms, offensive and Home Office, the Board of Trade, the Admiralty, defensive, were swords, leaf-shaped and straight, the War Office, or other Departments of State are circular shields or bucklers, spear-heads, arrowlodged for preservation and arrangement within heads of all sizes, daggers, &c. Personal ornathe iron cages of the Fetter-lane Repository. ments of bronze were also represented by bracelets or armlets, rings, earrings, pins, &c. THE BRONZE EXHIBITION. FROM the 17th to the 30th of January, the Society of Antiquaries exhibited, in their rooms at Somerset House, a large and valuable collection of implements and weapons of the Bronze Period. It proved an appropriate and interesting continuation of the society's exhibitions of paleolithic and neolithic antiquities, and I may be allowed to express a hope that it will be followed, at no very distant period, by a similar collection of objects of the Iron Age. It may seem invidious to mention particular objects without doing justice to those of other contributors, but I cannot forbear noticing the three fine bucklers or shields, lent by Mr. A. W. Franks, Director, S.A., Mr. T. G. Provis, and Mr. W. W. E. Wynne. Another most interesting and valuable relic was a spear complete as used, having a bronze head, and the shaft formed of bog oak, with gold ornamentation at the junction of the spearhead with the shaft. This rare object was found in Ireland, and was the property of Colonel A. H. Lane Fox, Vice-President. The same gentleman In the present instance, the society was indebted lent also some very fine and large sword blades to the following noblemen, gentlemen, and local and spear-heads. Mr. John Evans was a contributor associations, for the loan of their valuable treasures, to a great extent in almost every class of impleviz:-Earl Powis, Lord Ravensworth, Lord Talbot ments and weapons, including curious moulds for de Malahide, Sir Alexander Acland Hood, Bart., casting celts. Objects found in France, Spain, the Ven. Archdeacon Trollope, the Rev. Canon Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Germany, Austria, Greenwell, Rev. T. Bacon, Rev. E. L. Barnwell, Saxony, Denmark, Greece, South America, &c., |