There is a charity at Pilton in Devonshire, distinguished by the name of St. Margaret's Hospital.

This hospital, or house, as it was sometimes called, was formerly appropriated for the reception of lepers of both sexes [a].

The female ornaments of dress which Mr. Douce has the honour of laying before the Society were presented to him by an old lady, in whose family they had always remained. They consist of a purse, a pin-cushion, and a pair of knives, the latter of which cannot be better illustrated than by the following extract: from a note on a passage in Romeo and Juliet, by our worthy member George Steevens, Esq.

I Phineas Pette, being son of Mr. Peter Pette, of Deptsord Strond in in the county of Kent, one of his majesty's shipwrights, was born in my father's dwelling-house in the same town on All Saints day in the morning, being the first day of November, in the year of our Lord 1570.

I Have already intimated, in my Dissertation upon the Works of Robert Wace, that the French are indebted to England, and its monarchs, for the most eminent poets that we know of in their language. It will be the purpose of that which I have now the honour to present you with, to expatiate more at large upon this fact; not that I undertake to decide upon a question oftentimes discussed, but never yet resolved, concerning the original founders of the French Parnassus. I shall not dispute with the natives of Picardy the honour which has been conferred on them by Monsieur Fontenelle [a]; nor attempt to deprive the Troubadours of the palm which the Abbé Millet has adjudged to them [b]; and, though myself a Norman, I shall not unite with Monsieur de la Ravalliere in demonstrating, that my countrymen have been the fathers of French poetry [c].

I Have ventured to send you a little account of some relics lately found in a barrow in the Peak of Derbyshire.

About the latter end of last winter, Mr. Robert Needham, jun. of Ashford, a very respectable farmer, who rents an estate of the duke of Devonshire, was induced to destroy a large barrow for the sake of procuring a great quantity of lime-stones, of which it was chiefly formed.

I Take the liberty of sending you the included for the inspection of the Society. I purchased it out of what was called the Arundel collection, which was sold at the conclusion of the sale of the dutchess of Portland's museum in the year 1786. From the letter which accompanied this little tablet (if it may be so called), it appears, that it was found in Essex, but unfortunately we are not informed in what part of the county. This, therefore, prevents the attaining any clue to discover who was the original owner, though I should conceive it highly probable that it belonged to some religious house. Though the letter contains no date, the names of lord Oxford and Mr. Wanley, which are mentioned in it, are so well known to the Society, that the period when it was found may well be conjectured.

Furste, received by the sayde Sr Edwarde Waldegrave, knighte, of Sr Edrnonde Peckam, knighte, highe treasorer of the Qwenes Highnes Mynttes, by vertewe of oone warraunte. Dated in the Tower of London, the 14th daye of Julye, the furste yere of her mooste gracios reigne, in preste towerde the expenses of the sayde buryall.

In addition to the information respecting the Pusey Horn, published many years since by the Society, the traditional history respecting it may be thought worth noticing. It is as follows: Canute being encamped in the neighbourhood of Pusey, and the Saxons at a few miles distance, the king received intelligence from an officer of his army, who in the disguise of a shepherd had got into the enemy's camp, of an ambuscade formed by the Saxons to intercept him. This intelligence proved true; and the king in consequence escaping the danger, he gave this manor to the officer and his heirs for this service, to hold by the tenure of this horn, which has accordingly been preserved carefully by the proprietors ever since.