Permit me through your hands to lay the enclosed papers before the Society of Antiquaries, concerning an ancient custom of setting up Posts, which were occasionally to be new painted, on each side of the gates of Chief Magistrates of cities. The accompanying drawings (see Pl. XXXVI.) are taken from different houses in Elmhill near the Tomb-land, Norwich. The posts of fig. 1 are the most ancient, and are in the style which prevailed about the reign of Henry VIIIth; they are covered with red paint.