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CHILDREN'S GAMES: "LORDS."-An elderly lady of about sixty summers recently gave me the following particulars respecting a school game, in which she had frequently taken part with her playmates, some "fifty years ago.' The recital may, perhaps, serve to bring back by-gone recollections to some of your venerable readers, recalling the happy time, when, as children, such pastimes were to them (as to present juveniles) incentives to learning, acting as a stimulating agent by producing a more diligent application to their various studies. Experience proves the truth of the old adage"All work and no play Makes Jack a dull boy!"

And I believe this trite and homely proverb will always remain applicable.

The game of "Lords," to which I have alluded, admitted of none but the fair sex among its votaries, and commenced-after a "mother" had been duly elected-by a bevy of lassies forming a row, the "mother" then choosing one of the number to act as "lord." The "lord" would then daintily step to the front, mincingly gathering up her dress a little distance from the ground, strutting proudly before the expectant damsels, and addressing the "mother of the maids" in this wise:

"Here comes one lord all dressed in green,

All for the sake of your daughter Jane."

WOOD CARVING.-We have had brought under our notice a bust of Shakespeare, just made by Mr. William Perry, of North Audley Street, wood carver to Her Majesty, out of the wood of the tree which many, if not most, antiquaries believe to be the veritable oak of "Herne the Hunter" in Windsor Park. It is about 2 feet in height, and is a duplicate of one which was made by Mr. Perry a few years since by command of the Queen, and which now stands in the Royal apartments at Windsor Castle. We do not intend here to enter into a controversy as to the claims of this particular tree, which fell to the ground by natural decay about ten years ago, further than to say that its genuineness as "Herne's oak" was strongly supported by the late Mr. Edward Jesse in the Gentleman's Magazine, and that Her Majesty had always been taught to identify it with Shakespeare's muse by tradition long current in the Royal family; and no one now, we feel sure, will accuse us of being "wor shippers of relics" in the ordinary acceptation of the term, more especially when we add that no more materials of the old tree are left than are enough to make one single further copy of the size above indicated. It is more to our purpose to bear our testimony to the truth and faithfulness of the likeness which this bust bears to the William Shakespeare whom the sculptor and the painter have conspired to hand down to us. Mr. James Bodden, in his well-known "Inquiry into the Authenticity of the various Pictures, Prints,

The "mother" proudly tossing up her head, answered &c., which have been offered to the Public as Portraits of indignantly

"My daughter Jane she is too young

To be led away by your false tongue!"

"Lord," as ferociously as circumstances would admit

"Let her be young, let her be old;
For her beauty she must be sold!"

"Mother," relentingly

"Turn back, turn back, the coach is free,
Take the fairest one that you can see."

The "lord,” then smiling bewitchingly, exclaimed :—
"The fairest one that I can see,

Is pretty, Jemima ! t-come to me!"

Shakespeare," a work of high authority, published nearly fifty years ago, has given us specimens of most of these, with critical discussions as to their respective merits. First and foremost in this book stands the picture by Cornelius Jansen, in the Duke of Somerset's collection; secondly, the portrait prefixed to the folio edition of 1623, and engraved by Martin Droeshout, which represents him in an.apparently theatrical costume-possibly as "old Knowell," in "Every Man in His Humour;" thirdly, certain portraits taken from the well-known bust of the poet at Stratford-on-Avon; fourthly, "the Chandos head"-so called from its former possessor, the "princely" Duke of Chandos, and afterwards placed in the Duke of Buckingham's gallery at Stowe-a picture which, though its author is unknown, comes down to us guaranteed by Sir William Davenant, and has been repeatedly engraved. There are other portraits of Shakespeare in this book, such as "the Felton head" (which Steevens held to be alone genuine); but of these Mr. Perry has made but little use, comparatively speaking. His delineation of Shakespeare's features avoids the theatrical mannerisin and the extremely high forehead ascribed to the I am inclined to regard the above as a relic or fragment poet by M. Droeshout's print, the stiffness of the hair inof some ancient play or mystery, in which, perhaps, only the separable from the Stratford (or indeed from any) bust, and part shown, and that in a corrupted form, has been trans- the excessively flowing locks of the Chandos picture.-Times. mitted to posterity; at all events, it is worth preserving, if only to be cut and chronicled among other amusing old by

The lassie chosen, then quitting the row, was immediately metamorphosed into a lord "all dressed in green; the game beginning again with "Here comes two lords," &c., and so on, until the whole of the maidens were transformed into lords of the creation (without the help of magic or a spiritualizing medium!), the poor "mother" being left at last disconsolate and forlorn!

gones.

There are a few anomalies in this fragmentary piece allowing scope for the critical powers of the satirist. But when it is considered that children were the players, animadversions must needs fall powerless, as we cannot expect finely drawn distinctions or subtle discrimination from youthful minds. Imagination enters largely in the composition-and is one of the ruling elements-of youth. "Tom Tiddler's Ground," is to them the veritable land of gold and silver. A "lord all dressed in green," is made as soon as spoken; to consider the real colour of the dress is out of the question! Youth is also fickle; if daughter Jane" is too young to listen to the blandishments of love, "Jemima," or any other fair one, will answer equally well, no regard being paid to congruity of sentiment. But this is as it should be -childlike; and may it so remain !

66

J. PERRY.

TALES."The first place mentioned in the tales after the
pilgrims left the Tabard in Southwark, is the watering of
St. Thomas, which was at the second milestone on the old
Canterbury road. In the Reeve's prologue are the lines-

TOPOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON CHAUCER'S "CANTERBURY

"Lo heer is Depford, and it is passed prime;
Lo Grenewich, ther many a schrewe is inne;"
In the Monk's prologue occurs-

"Lo, Rowchestre stant heer faste by."
In the prologue of the Wife of Bath we read-
"Quod this Sompnour, And I byshrewe me,
But if I telle tales tuo or thre
Of freres, er I come to Sydingborne,'"

The Sompnour at the end of his tale says—

"My tale is don, we ben almost at toune."

In the Pardoner's prologue "her at this ale-stake" occurs. "Draweth no monkes more unto your in" is in the prologue

Of course this phrase is not to be taken in the same significant of the Prioress. In the prologue of the Canon's Yeoman sense as implied by Lord Byron in Don Juan.

+ Or any other name as the case might be.

are the lines

"Whan ended was the lif of seynt Cecile,
Er we fully had riden fyve myle,

At Boughtoun under Blee us gan atake."
In the Manciple's prologue are these lines-

S. A. R. "HOTCH-POTCH."-What is the origin of this compound word, now commonly used to indicate a medley or strange compound?

capable of being moulded into vessels and other objects. Of the date assigned to this legend I am ignorant, as I am also of the nature of the earliest Phoenician glass. The probability is that glass in its very early stages was not "Wot ye not wher ther stont a litel toun, clearly transparent, but that it had that opaque appearance Which that cleped is Bob-up-and-doun, which is observable in some of the little vases or lachrymose Under the Ble, in Canterbury way?" vessels that have been at different times discovered in ancient Among Chaucer students there has been some difference tombs, more especially in Italy and Greece. There can be of opinion as to which road the pilgrims took on the last no doubt, I think, from the way in which glass is alluded to day's journey. Some friends of mine started the theory that in Scripture, that it was an article of great rarity and value the pilgrims avoided the high road at Boughton, and, going in early times. In Psalm lvi. 8, occurs the words, "put to the south, entered Canterbury by the old ford at Than- thou my tears into thy bottle." Here, says Dr. Adam nington, where there is a field called "Up-and-down." Clarke, is an allusion to a very ancient custom, which we This name was the basis of the theory. In addition, it was know long obtained among the Greeks and Romans, of pleaded that the main road was shunned on account of putting the tears which were shed for the death of any being infested with robbers, and also that it was muddy. person into small phials, called lacrymatories, or urna Mr. Furnivall speaks of the "no doubt robber-haunted lacrymales; and offering them on the tomb of the deceased.” forest" of Blean, and in the appendix to Stanley's "Me- Some of these, says the above writer, were of glass, some of morials of Canterbury" the pilgrims are said to have avoided pottery, and some of agate, sardonyx, &c. Of the introducthe highways, and taken to the lanes, as in the days of tion of glass into England, and its first application for the Deborah. But nothing whatever is known of robbers lurk-purposes of windows, I should also like to know something. ing near the old forest, not even by tradition, and the reference to robbers in the prologue of the Canon's Yeoman, does not lead one to suppose the canon lived near the "ostelry" whence he saw the pilgrims start in the early morning. The highly-coloured reference to the days of Deborah the prophetess, when "the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways," as applied to the best and most frequented public road in all England, is, I submit, most inaccurate and misleading. I have never found the slightest evidence to support the oftrepeated story that the main road through Kent was avoided by the pilgrims. How could it be? The people living in the towns and villages on the pilgrims' way were themselves pilgrims. Referring to the theory that Thannington was "Bob-up-and-down," no "litel toun" ever stood at the spot whereUp-and-down" field is, nor is Thannington under the Blean at all. The fact is, this part of the pilgrims' way is the clearest marked of the whole road. At Ospringe, where perhaps the "ostelry" was, a lazar-house stood; a little farther on was an oratory, where a priest said mass for pilgrims; at each end of the road through the forest of Blean was a lazar-house, and it may be noted that both hospitals were dedicated to the Norman's favourite patron saint, St. Nicholas, as well as the oratory just mentioned. In addition to all this, at the Harbledown hospital a slipper of "the holy blisful martir" was kept, for each pilgrim to kiss as he passed.

Queries.

GLASS.

G. B.

I SHOULD be glad if any of your correspondents would aid me in throwing any light on the origin or invention of glass. That it dates from a very remote period we all know; and, I believe, the honour of its discovery has been at various times claimed by different nations. I think something might be written on this subject which would be of great interest, not only with regard to its origin, but also with reference to the various usages to which it has been put. The ancient Egyptians are said to have been very proficient in making glass beads and other objects for the adornment of their person. There is a legend attributing the origin to the Phoenicians, which, as far as I can recollect-for it is many years ago that I remember reading it,-states that some merchants, in returning with a ship laden with natron, or some other fusible substance, were driven by stress of weather to take refuge upon the coast, landing on a sandy tract near Mount Carmel, and that in order to prepare their food they placed their cooking-pots on some lumps of natron, which, fused by the heat, became as it were a congealed mass,

J. LONG.

CHARON.-How did the story of Charon and the ferrying over the River Styx take its rise? Mr. Bankes, an antiquary, who travelled and wrote in the beginning of the present century, is of opinion that it arose from the custom of burying the good in an island, which he calls the Holy Island of Flowers, situated on the Nile, between Phile and Elephantine, and into which none but pilgrims were permitted to enter.

J. F. L.

DANDIPRAT, OR DANDIPART.-Whence the word Dandipart, or Dandiprat? In Camden's "Remains of Great Britain," 1636, it is stated that King Henry VII. stamped a small coin called Dandiprat. Leake, in his "Historical Account of English Money," makes a similar statement, but no where else is mention made of such a coin during the reign of that monarch.

T. J. RANDALL.

PHOSPHORUS.-Who discovered Phosphorus, and what country may claim the honour of its paternity? Among the discoverers Bayle, Brairdt, and Kunkel are mentioned. H. A.

BALLOONS.-Who was the inventor of the balloon, and at what period was it invented? One authority says Montgolifa, a native of France, but adduces no proof in support of his statement. S. OGILVIE.

ANCIENT SCOTCH RHYTHMICAL BROCHURE.- Some years ago, among a lot of old family books, I found a copy of an early Scotch rhythmical brochure, entitled "The Vision; Compylit in Latin, be a most lernit Clerk, in Time of our Hairship and Oppression, Anno 1300, and Translatit in 1524; printed in the year 1748." Is anything known of the author? In very peculiar random metre it quaintly depicts the miseries attendant upon the period, when, as it

says:

"Baliol, their Richts did sell
With small Howp of Reliese !
Regretand and fretand
Ay, at his cursit Plot-
Quha rammed and crammed
That Bargain doun thair Throt!"

H. ECROYD SMITH.

CIRENCESTER.- Under what circumstances did this the Reformation, and of what order? I understand the use town become a borough in the reign of Henry IV. ? of the word Minster always indicates a church served by the regular clergy. JOSEPH REGINALD DOWSON.

CLERICUS.

DOGGET'S BADGE.-I should be glad to know the origin of the old custom of rowing for this badge, and why it is called Dogget's. R. S.

THEATRICAL SCENES.-At what date were these introduced on the stage? I believe there has been much controversy on this point, and consequently I shall be glad to know where the latest and most reliable evidence as to their earliest introduction may be found.

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ROMAN POTTERY KILN.-Some nine or ten years ago, whilst spending a few days at Shepton Mallet, in Somersetshire, my attention was drawn to a very interesting discovery that had just been made, during some building operations that were then being carried out. I was informed at the time that the object alluded to, which was discovered about 3 feet below the surface of the ground, was none other than a Roman pottery kiln. I should be glad to ascertain whether this very curious little relic has been preserved. Perhaps some of your antiquarian friends in the neighbourhood may be able to give me some particulars concerning it.

RAMBLER.

DR. BURTON.-Can any of your readers tell me anything reliable as to the parentage, birth, &c., of that distinguished antiquary and medical author of the last century, John Burton, M.D.? In the various works to which I have referred, I find it stated that he was a native of Ripon, of Wakefield, of York, and of Colchester. I am inclined to accept the latter as the place of his birth, but should like to have more evidence to strengthen my supposition.

C. F. LUCAS. AXMINSTER.—Can any of your readers inform me if a religious house existed at Axminster, in Devonshire, prior to

ENGLISH FAMILY FEUDS.-I should be greatly obliged to the writer of this interesting notice of the latest feud on record (see p. 144 ante), by his supplementing the precise locale of Raydale, Yorkshire. I suspect it is in the northern portion of this province, as full of dales as a sieve with holes, but I cannot "spot" it. So lately as the middle of the sixteenth century this district furnishes us with anathemas inscribed on tablets of lead, in which astrological spirits are invoked to aid in the diabolical curse of a whole family. H. ECROYD SMITH,

Replies.

KIRKE WHITE, THE POET

(Vol. iii. 211.)

CHANTREY'S monument to Henry Kirke White, furnished by the munificence of Dr. Boot, an American gentle. man, but long resident in Gower Street, and well known as an accomplished botanist and author, was displaced from All Saints' Church, Cambridge, where the grave still remains on the old site of the church, now an open graveyard, and has been recently erected, with the consent of the parishioners and under the kind cooperation of the vicar of All Saints' parish, in the new chapel of St. John's College, Cambridge. There is now one other monumental record. Within the last six years the incumbent of the parish of Wilford, near Nottingham, ("Lines written in Wilford Churchyard"), a place which Kirke White not unfrequently visited to recruit his health, provided, by private and public subscription, a medallion tablet, which was exhibited in the Royal Academy Exhibition, within Wilford Church. The incumbent of Wilford was about 1867, and subsequently fixed on one of the walls led to do this in consequence of the frequent visits of inquiry to Wilford Church by persons interested in its relations to the poet.

M.

ARUNDEL CASTLE (Vol. iii. 200).-This ancient castle was given by William the Conqueror to his kinsman, Roger de Montgomeri, soon after the Norman Conquest. Roger, who was Earl Marshal of England, enjoyed the favour of the Conqueror; but Robert, his son and successor, " siding with Duke Robert, forfeited his English possessions, which Henry I. granted to his brother Hugh. Soon afterwards, Henry I. seized the earldom, and by his will settled it as a dowry upon Adeliza, or Alice of Loraine, his second wife. She remarried William de Albini, who had been Pincerna Regis, or king's butler. In the family of de Albini it remained till the time of the fifth Earl of Arundel, who died in 1243, leaving four sisters, in consequence of which the honour was divided into four parts. The honour was assigned to Fitz-Alan, who had married Isabel, the second co-heiress, and he assumed the earldom by tenure only, and was ancestor of seven Earls of Arundel in a direct line of succession down to the death of Thomas Fitz-Alan,* in 1415. In that year a claim was made by John de Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, son and heir of John's sister Elizabeth, and after a chancery suit full possession was given to John Fitz-Alan, Baron Maltravers, in 1433. Subsequently it was held in succession by the united families of Fitz-Alan

*Thomas Fitz-Alan took part in the death of Archbishop Scrope, in 1404.

1404. "This yere the erl of Arundel weddid the Kyngis doutir of Portingale with grete solempnite."

In 1410 he was sent by Hen. IV. to aid the Duke of Burgundy "with many men of armes and archeris."

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announce His mercy by day and His truth in their nocturnal vigils, that by their sound the faithful may be invited to prayers, and that the spirit of devotion in them may be increased."

JOSEPH REGINALD DOWSON.

In the Capitulars of Charlemagne may be read the oftenquoted words-"ut clocæ non baptizentur." Those who have paid the least attention to the subject of bells will be as weary of this sentence as they are of S. Paulinus, bishop of Nola, and Tarketul and the bells of Croyland. SENNACHERIB.

neteer.

SONNETEER (Vol. iii. 212.)—The dictionaries agree in defining "Sonneteer" as "a maker of sonnets, a small poet," and in stating that it is applied in contempt. The word appears, however, to have been sometimes used in a quite good sense for instance, in Shakespeare's "Love's Labour Lost," i., 2., the love-sick Armado is made to say with reference to an address to his mistress: "Assist me some extemporal god of rhyme, for, I am sure, I shall turn sonDevise wit; write pen; for I am whole volumes in folio." Even in this instance, however, Shakespeare, though putting the word into Armado's mouth as applying to himself, may have had a substratum of sarcasm, the speaker being an affected person held up to ridicule throughout the play. In some editions the word is printed "sonneter." If this last form be correct, and if we take it into account that the French use pamphletaire for "a writer of pamphlets," and pamphletier for "a writer of bad pamphlets," it may be fairly presumed that sonneteer always carries a contemptuous sense with it.

ORLANDO.

THE THREE ESTATES OF THE REALM (Vol. iii. 212).— WILL LO: Oli- I consider the mistakes to have arisen from the general belief that the estates of the realm were certainly three. While there has been a doubt in some minds whether the Lords Spiritual and Temporal were two estates or one, i has been agued that they cannot be two, since the consent of the Upper House may be complete though every one of the bishops may be in opposition. F. A. J.

ver, 4 com. Arundell, marr. Isabella, da. to Will: Earl Warren, ob. 1243. s. p.

EDMUND FITZ ALLEN com. Arundell marr. Alice, fil Lo comes
Waren et sister & her to Will com Waren.

W. WINTERS.

STATUE OF JAMES II. (Vol. iii. 211).-This statue is still to be seen in Whitehall courtyard, at the back of the Banqueting House; it is the work of Grinling Gibbons, and was placed there December 31, 1688, at the charge of Tobias Rustat. The king is pointing with the forefinger to the site of his former palace; the attitude is fine, the manner free and easy, the expression of the face inimitable, and the execution finished and perfect. It is an admirable specimen of the work of that renowned artist.

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"'TWAS WHISPERED IN HEAVEN" (Vol. iii. 223).— This riddle has been repeatedly printed in collections of Lord Byron's works, and not many days since I saw it quoted and attributed to Byron in a paper of considerable literary pretensions. It was really, however, written-as Miss Mitford pointed out in her charming volume called "Notes of a Literary Life"-by Miss Catherine Fanshawe. A. H. W.

ANCIENT LAW TERMS (Vol. iii. 224).-Jeresgive was a sum of money exacted by the king's officers as the price for which they consented to connive at extortion or overlook certain offences. Scotale was a kind of black mail levied upon the citizens by officers of the king who kept ale-houses or breweries. To purchase the favour or avoid the displeasure of these ale-selling officers of the crown the ancient citizens frequented their houses and paid contributions which were called scotales. Pannage was a duty paid to the king for the pasturage of cattle; pavage, a tax for the repair of the roads; pontage, a tax for repairing the bridges, paid by horsemen and the drivers of vehicles who passed over them, and by boatmen, &c. who passed under them. Murage was a tax levied for the repair of the city walls and the public buildings. A. H. WALL.

PUBLIC HOUSE Chequers (Vol. iii. 223).-I quite agree with your correspondent, A. P., in regarding the chequers on the doorposts of inns as far more ancient than is commonly supposed. Amongst the Romans a chequer and a shrub were devices used by the worshippers of Bacchus, and they

have been found in the buried cities of Pompeii exhibited on The members and visitors were received at the end of the the doors of taverns or wine merchants.

A. H. W.

In bygone times the Warrens, Earls of Surrey, possessed the privilege of licensing public-houses, and they ordered that every licensed innkeeper should display the Warren arms-chequey, or and azure-upon the exterior of his house.

ROB. H. MAIR, LL.D. Editor of "Debretts Peerage," &c. THE HASTINGS FAMILY (Vol. iii. 189, 202, 225).-Sir John de Hastings was summoned to parliament as Baron Hastings in the 18th Edward I. Elizabeth, daughter and coheir of Sir Hugh Hastings, Knt., the male descendant of the first Baron, married Hamon L'Estrange, Esq., and left a son and heir, Sir Nicholas L'Estrange, whose grandson, Nicholas, was created a Baronet in 1629. He married Anne, daughter of Sir Edward Lewknor, last Lord Camoys. The title became extinct in 1760, on the death of Sir Henry L'Estrange, the fifth Baronet, great-grandson of the first Baronet.* John Hastings, Earl of Pembroke, was actively engaged in the defeat at Rochelle in 1371. "In that yere was Rochel besegid with Frenschmen. And the Kyng sent thidir [year] the erl of Pembrok, Ser Jon Hastingis, for to remeve the sege," &c. He was accidentally killed "In this same yere, [1389.] Jon Hasting, erl of Pembrok, in justing in the presens of the Kyng, was wounded to the deth. He that suret him hite Ser Jon Seint Jon. It was seid of that Kynrod, that fro that tyme of Eymere of Valauns, whech was on of the juges that sat on the deth of Thomas of Lancaster, onto this Jon, that there was nevir erl of Pembrok that saw his

fader." t

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Librarian of Peterborough Cathedral.

Proceedings of Societies.

SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE FINE ARTS. This society held its third Conversazione of the session on Thursday week, at the South Kensington Museum. By the kind permission of the Council on Education, the whole of the basement of the South Kensington Museum had been placed at the disposal of the society for the occasion. There were between 300 and 400 persons present, and among the guests were his Excellency the Spanish Ambassador, with his lady and suite; Mr. E. B. Eastwick, C.B., M.P.; the Hon. Mr. and Mrs. Randolph Clay; Major-General Espinosa de Los Monteros (Attaché à la Légation d'Espagne); Señor José Cort (Attaché à la Légation d'Espagne); Hafiz Ahmed Hasan; Szed Jaaffer Hasan; The Honourable Roger Molyneux; Sir E. Reid and Lady Reid; Sir David and Lady Deas; General Stevenson; Dr. Hemming; Messrs. Redgrave, R.A.; Calder Marshall, R.A.; Alexander Mackinnon; M. Roger de Felcourt; Mr. P. V. K. Naida; the Rev. Paxton Hood; the President of the Architectural Association; Mr. and Mrs. Rycroft Reeve; Messrs. Hyde Clark, Plumptre, Hawksley, J. E. Gardner, J. Prichard, Cameron, T. H. Wright, W. Bayliss, F. Fuller; Mr. and Mrs. Hardwicke Lewis; Messrs. Schuberth, John Dalziel, Hanse, Farjeon, and many other distinguished ladies, gentlemen, and artists.

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long corridor by the chairman (Major Britton), the Honorary Secretary (Mr. Browning), and members of the Council. Divans, chairs, and seats, were placed here and there for the accommodation of the promenading multitude, and shortly before nine, that is, about three-quarters of an hour after the reception had commenced the band of the Royal London Militia struck up with the overture from Italiana in Algeria, by Rossini. The acoustic advantages of the building are not of a nature to permit vocal music being heard to perfecattempt at singing was the performance of a few verses of tion, and it was hence omitted from the programme. The only "Come back to Erin," by the bandmaster and one of his men during the playing of Basquit's Fantasia. The selections from Flotow's Martha were probably the best of the even. ing. If they did nothing else, they certainly created a lively movement among the crowd. There were evidently not a few among those assembled in these beautiful halls that had never set foot upon the mosaics of South Kensington Museum before this occasion, and to them the cases which we are wont to pass by almost unnoticed, had great attractions. One case particularly seemed to be of special interest to a party of young people, ladies and gentlemen in the full of their appreciation and merriment; others, evidently attracted by the curiosity of the young investigators, gathered round and shared in the enjoyment of the novel and appropriate remarks made on the relics of King Theodore's wealth. There was the crown, 13 inches high and II inches in diameter, which some one thought he must have been glad to get rid of, seeing that it was big enough for a good-sized bird cage, and heavy enough to require shoulder props. The Tarboosh was supposed to be a more suitable head gear, and more in keeping with the anklets exhibited beneath it. The slippers of silver filigree, intended by King Theodore to be sent with an embassy to England as a present to Her Majesty, and a token of his affectionate regard, were merrily discussed by the ladies. The pattern was declared to be a model; it would do either for skating or for walking on the water, the fore parts being somewhat elevated and pointed like an old-fashioned ship's prow. There was a similar pair of shoes, which had actually been worn by the Queen of Abyssinia, 10 inches long 4 inches wide, and it was suggested that one of them must have been the original Cinderilla slipper. The shield, mounted with silver and gilt filigree, was described as formerly having been in the possession of Dejatch Aboorbish, the Governor of the Province of Yejjo, who had been beheaded by King Theodore, at Debra Tabor, in July, 1867. It had been taken at Magdala, and this remarkable trophy was likened, by a fair looker-on, to a large saucepan-lid, or the top of a paper-basket. In spite of this merriment and good-humour, developed in an out-of the-way corner, the etiquette of the evening and the occasion was in no way disturbed. There was no exhibition of novelties, such as is usually met with at conversaziones of learned societies; but the graceful figures of the ladies, and the picturesque costumes of the Asiatic guests, helped to enliven the scene, and kept people on the qui vive until a late hour, when crowds were asking for coats, shawls, umbrellas, cabs, and broughams for the journey home. This society has elected, as corresponding members, Señor José Valleyjo, of Madrid, and Signor Ettose Ferrari, of Rome. The next and last conversazione of the session will take place on Thursday, June the 26th.

VICTORIA PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTE.-A crowded meeting of the members was held at the house of the Society of Arts, on the 6th inst., the Earl of Harrowby in the chair; the subject of investigation being the question of the flint implements of the drift. The paper, which was read by Mr. W. D. Michell, was illustrated by a large number of diagrams, and three collections of specimens, including one set produced by Mr. J. Evans. After showing the great importance of the question as affecting the origin and antiquity of man in his relation to the post-glacial epoch, after all the many

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