In a letter I addressed to you some time ago, which obtained a place in Vol. XXXIV. of the Archæologia, I introduced a note from Sir Walter Raleigh to one of the law advisers of the Crown (most probably the Attorney-General) on the subject of the revocation and re-grant by Queen Elizabeth of the letters patent conceded to her then favourite, authorizing him to issue licences for the retail sale of wines. The note bears date 8th March, 1587–8, and it is the more important, because it corrects a mistake committed by Mr. Fraser Tytler, when he stated in his “Life of Raleigh” that this privilege was conferred as a reward for Raleigh's services in the defeat of the Spanish Armada. The fact appears to be, as I stated, that this renewal of the older and original patent took place before the Spanish Armada ventured to approach our shores.

Among the archives of the municipality at Vevay are a few notices respecting General Ludlow. He was under constant apprehension of assassination, and by way of protection he was allowed, if necessary, to ring a large bell, suspended in an old tower, since pulled down, which stood on the edge of the lake, at the south-east corner of the market-place, and which was his first habitation at Vevay. His last abode was the house adjoining the eastern gate of the town, which is still in perfect preservation, and well known as Ludlow's residence. Until within the last few years the original inscription remained over the door; it was carved on wood in the form of a scroll, and was given by the present possessor of the mansion to an Englishman travelling through Vevay, who represented himself as a descendant of Ludlow. Permission was accorded him by the government at Berne to erect a small guardhouse in front of the house, in the lake, to watch any boat coming from Savoy; one attempt was made upon his person, as he was coming out of the church in which his ashes now repose, but was frustrated by the authorities of the town surrounding and protecting him. The permissions to ring the bell and to build the guard-house are recorded in the archives. There is also some memorandum relating to “Madame la Genérale Ludlow,” after his decease. On the 6th of June, 1832, having obtained the obliging permission of the syndic to search the records, I proceeded to their examination. One of the conseil d'etat, and the secretary, whose name was Demontel, attended me; unfortunately there was no index, and the person belonging to the establishment, said to be the only man capable of laying his hand upon anything required, happened to be absent at Orbe. So I was left to hunt along the margin for the name of Ludlow,—a tedious and somewhat unprofitable task, for I could not find all I wanted. I have a friend here, at Lausanne, who has engaged to furnish me with some particulars respecting the investigations that followed the assassination of Lisle, in the Place St. François. It would be satisfactory to discover some remnant of the papers and correspondence of the regicides, but none are known to exist, and Ludlow's widow no doubt carried off all his literary remains when she left his mortal remains in the church of St. Martin. The epitaph she put up to him is well known: so are those of Broughton and Love. Interment in the church is no longer permitted, so the old Parliamentarians are likely to have it all to themselves, and to lie there undisturbed until the “crack of Doom,” for we can hardly calculate upon churches being pulled down, and the dead pulled up, in this tranquil, neutralised, unchanging country.

The appearance of the magnificent work of the Chevalier Lepsius, containing such vast materials for the history of Egypt, a copy of which has been presented by the King of Prussia to the Society of Antiquaries, compels me to resume my labours upon the annals of the Egyptian monarch Thothmes III. I had formerly given some account of this reign, perhaps the most glorious for Egypt, in translating the so-called statistical inscription of Karnak; but the publication of four other inscriptions, all having relation to the same subject, renders it necessary to give a translation of the entire five, and to show their corresponding relation to each other. Unfortunately, the mutilation of this monument, either by the incursions of time, by fanatical heretics of the oldest period of Egypt itself, or by other barbarian hands, renders the text considerably interrupted and mutilated. Yet the careful reader can still follow the thread of the narrative, and study this fragment of the old colossal history of Central Asia and civilized Africa. Not, however, to dilate here too much on the historical portion, but merely warning the inquirer that the apparent incoherence is caused not so much by our ignorance of the hieroglyphical writing as by the great lacunae in .the text, and also observing that the philological observations are thrown into the notes, in order not to encumber the general remarks, I will proceed to the interpretation of these five inscriptions in their historical order. They occur on the wall of the great temple of the god Amen Ra, at Karnak, one of the quarters of Thebes, close to the granite sanctuary at Thebes, which was built by Thothmes III. and restored by the monarch Har-em-hebi, or Horus, of the eighteenth dynasty. About one half of the text is wanting.

The village of Mentmore stands about eight miles north-east from Aylesbury, four miles from Leighton Buzzard, and one mile and a half from the Cheddington Station, on the London and North-Western Railway. It is situated on a hill, which rises somewhat abruptly from the Vale of Aylesbury. The hill is of irregular shape, throwing out three spurs; on one of which, stretching to the westward, stands the church, and along another, towards the north-east, is the road to Leighton Buzzard. It is a small rural parish, scarcely known by name till the Baron M. A. de Rothschild established his stag-hounds there. I cannot trace the name beyond Domesday Book. The manor is there stated to have belonged to the fair Edith (Eddeva Pulchra), the wife of King Edward the Confessor, and as then belonging to Earl Hugh. The manor subsequently passed through the families of Bussell, Zouche of Harringworth, Bray, Ligoe, Hamilton (Viscount Limerick), and Harcourt, to the present possessor, the Baron M. A. de Rothschild.

The name of Shakspere appears to be so inseparably connected with the Seven Ages of Man in the minds of most persons, that few have thought of inquiring how much of this charming creation is really his own. Not that the division of human life into periods or stages is so deeply philosophical that the idea might not occur to many of even ordinary capacity, but the form in which our great poet has presented to us man's course from the cradle to the grave is so beautiful and graphic, so completely his own, that it is hardly matter for surprise that the subject should have been allowed to rest almost entirely unexplored. It certainly would have remained untouched by myself, had it not happened that the Museum has acquired an extremely curious wood-engraving of the Seven Ages of Man, executed about the middle of the fifteenth century. Believing this print to be of sufficient interest and importance to be communicated to the Society of Antiquaries, I have been led to make some inquiries into the subject of it. My researches have carried me further back than I had anticipated.

Borough Hill, near Daventry, has by most antiquaries been considered the Station Bennavenna, or Benaventa, of the Itinerary of Antoninus. Bridges and Baker, the historians of Northamptonshire, hare given so full an account of this place, and so satisfactorily decided the question as to the real site of the Station, that I need only record the researches recently made in continuation of the exploration of 1823, and hazard some conjectures as to points not clearly elucidated by former authors, relative to objects of antiquarian interest in connexion with this station.

Les habitants de Chavannes ont conservé une ancienne tradition d'après laquelle les payens sacrifiaient autrefois à leurs dieux sur la Motte du Châtelard, située près du village, au bord d'un précipice accidenté au fond duquel est le torrent du Veyron. Jusq'à ces dernières années, on voyait sur le lieu attribué aux sacrifices une colline artificielle, de la forme d'un mamelon arrondi, haute de 22′ sur 114 de diamêtre à sa base, et entourée de deux fossés, disposes en cercles concentriques, qui mesuraient chacun 35′ d'ouverture sur 10 de profondeur; ces fossés étaient séparés l'un de l'autre par une bande de terrain de 40′ de largeur, légèrement exhaussée au-dessus du sol environnant. Les frères Bettens, voulant rendre à la culture cette partie de leur domaine, ont rejeté dans les fossés la terre du mamelon, en pratiquant sur celui-ci des coupes verticales qui m'ont permis d'examiner avec soin l'intérieur de ce monticule. A la base, l'aire de la colline était couverte d'une couche de eendres et de charbons de 8 à 10″ d'épaisseur, sur laquelle reposait un lit de cailloux roulés et de terre argileuse. Au-dessus, venait un nouveau lit de eendres et de charbons, recouvert de terre, et ces couches alternatives se reproduisaient jusqu'au sommet du mamelon. Il est cependant à remarquer que les lits de eendres et de charbons, disposés en 7 à 8 étages irréguliers, ne présentaient pas tous l'épaisseur et la continuité de la couche inférieure. Les lits supérieurs étaient souvent interrompus et quelquefois sépares par des cavités d'autant plus surprenantes que la terre, qui en formait les parois, n'était soutenue par aucun corps solide (PI. XVII. fig. 1. D.); il est probable qu'une matière décomposable a facilité la formation de ces vides, difficiles du reste à expliquer d'une manière satisfaisante. Les tranchées verticales ont mis à jour la composition des couches, dont la couleur variait du noir au gris et au rouge, suivant qu'il y avait eu sur un point ou sur un autre accumulation de charbons, de cendres ou de terre brûlée. Ces divers foyers étaient separés par des couches de 2′ à 8′ d'épaisseur, d'une terre argileuse extrêmement compacte, tandis que le sommet de la colline était formé d'un lit de terre végétale de 2′ d'épaisseur.

With the exception of Figs. 1, 2, 3, the Gold Ornaments engraved in Plate VIII. have no reference whatever to each other. The first three were obtained by Viscount Strangford, Director of the Society, from a Greek priest at Milo, in the year 1820. Figs. 1 and 3 appear to have formed the ends of a light chain, and the other (fig. 2) to have been pendent by a small loop on the top of the head. The figure has unfortunately lost the feet and the left hand, but the other parts are perfect. The right hand is raised in an admonitory attitude. The forehead appears as if encircled with a wreath, while the body is crossed by what would seem to be intended for the tendril of a vine. The necklace was formerly in the collection of the late Mr. H. P. Borrell, of Smyrna, but I am informed by his brother, Mr. Maximilian Borrell, who now possesses it, that no record exists of its discovery, and that he cannot learn the name of the individual from whom it was purchased. It was well known that Mr. H. P. Borrell was in the habit of purchasing ancient coins, which were sent to him from all parts of Greece and Asia-Minor, and that many rare and unique specimens fell into his hands, of which he contributed descriptions in various volumes of the Numismatic Chronicle. The necklace may, therefore, have been included in one of these numerous consignments, and we can scarcely indulge the hope that the place of its discovery will ever be made known. As an example of ancient art, it may vie with the most elaborate and beautiful specimens of goldsmiths' work of any age or period. The details are wonderfully minute and delicate, even the backs of the button-like objects at the ends of the pendent cords being elaborately finished.

An opportunity having been afforded me of inspecting a collection of old churchwardens' accounts, I have made some extracts from them, which I beg leave to submit to this Society.

The importance of this class of historical evidences has been long universally admitted. Illustrations of manners and customs, information as to prices and comparative values, and interesting facts in history, topography, and biography have been derived from these humble records. The present accounts differ in some respects from those which have been already published, and, although certainly not to be compared in point of interest with one or two of the most important, they will not, I think, be deemed unworthy of consideration.

The interest which attaches to the growth of our vast metropolis, with all the concomitant improvements in building and in the comforts and conveniences of our dwellings, renders any evidence upon that subject worthy of general attention; I therefore take advantage of the permission of Sir Harry Verney, to exhibit to the Society of Antiquaries a lease granted in 1634 to Sir Edmund Verney, Knight Marshal to King Charles I., of two of the new houses then just erected as part of the Piazza in Covent Garden.

I beg to lay before our Society transcripts of three Documents illustrative of the Earl of Sussex's negotiation, in 1567, for the marriage of Queen Elizabeth with the Archduke Charles.

The first is the Diary of the Journey, kept by Sir Gilbert Dethick, who, as Garter King of Arms, attended the cortege, to invest the Emperor with the Order of St. George. It is mutilated in a few passages, being one of the numerous fragments of the Cottonian Library, which, with many fine and important volumes, were destroyed, or spoiled for all useful purposes, in the well-known fire of 1731.

The second is a Letter from the Earl of Sussex to the Queen herself (preserved in the Cottonian MS. Galba, B. xi . fol. 300), dated 27th August, 1567, detailing the substance of his several audiences of the Emperor up to the Emperor's acceptance of the Order of the Garter. It begins rather abruptly. It was probably preceded by some previous Letter to the Queen, descriptive of the journey: and not improbably by another Letter, or perhaps Letters, stating the further discussions with the Emperor and the Archduke, and the causes of failure of the Negociation.

The whole affording an ample view of the Negociation, and of the fruitless expenditure which it entailed.

The narrative of the deposition and murder of King Edward the Second, as delivered by both early chroniclers and recent historians, so far fails to realise the full interest of its subject, that it leaves in obscurity the subsequent history of the chief mover of those fearful events. The ambitious Mortimer expiates his crimes on the scaffold. Isabella, the instigator of sedition against her king, the betrayer of her husband, survives her accomplice; but, from the moment that her career of guilt is arrested, she is no more spoken of. The name which had before been so prominent, and had moved in us such deep and changing interest, disappears at once and entirely from the narrative. It is briefly intimated that the fallen Queen passed the remainder of her days in seclusion, and we can only speculate in what spirit she bore her humiliation and met the reproaches of her conscience in her long retirement; how far her withdrawal from public life was compulsory; and whether, or to what extent, she recovered her influence over the son she had so inhumanly set against his father. After mentioning the execution of Mortimer, Froissart proceeds to tell us that “the King soon after, by the advice of his Council, ordered his mother to be confined in a goodly castle, and gave her plenty of ladies to wait and attend on her, as well as knights and esquires of honour. He made her a handsome allowance to keep and maintain the state she had been used to, but forbade that she should ever go out or shew herself abroad, except at certain times, when any shows were exhibited in the court of the castle. The Queen thus passed her time there meekly, and the King, her son, visited her twice or thrice a year.” All that was added to this account by later historians was, that Castle Rising was the place of her confinement; that after the first two years the strictness of her seclusion was relaxed; that she surrendered her dowry into the King's hands, and received from him, in lieu of it, manors and rents of the yearly value of, at first, 3,000l. and, subsequently, 4,000l.; that she died at Castle Rising, on the 22nd of August, in the year 1358, and was buried in the church of the Grey Friars, within Newgate, in the city of London.

With the permission of your Lordship I am about to address to you a short and concluding continuation of some Papers which were read in the season of 1850-1, containing hitherto unnoticed materials for a Memoir of Sir Walter Raleigh. Those materials were derived from various sources, public and private, and brought the history of one of the founders of our Society—a man of great learning, multifarious talents, and energetic and enterprising spirit—down to the year 1598; when I showed, I believe for the first time, that he was employed against the rebels in Ireland, and had offered a price for the head of Tyrone.

Since I submitted to you the paper which the Society of Antiquaries has done me the honour of printing in the thirty-third volume of the Archæologia, pp. 269-278, I have met with a valuation of another manor, Shifford, in the same parish, anno 1608, in which the “yeard of land” is said to contain “above thirty-five acres by estimation.”

Permission having been kindly afforded the Society to renew their researches in the Low Field at Harnham, the excavations, at their expense, were resumed by me on Tuesday, the 11th of April, and continued for three days.

A portion of the hedge westward of the gate-post, at which my former operations commenced last year, having been removed, we proceeded to dig a trench in that direction, south of and parallel to the first-discovered grave. Amongst a quantity of loose soil was found the iron-spike of the butt-end of a spear, which had probably belonged to the staff of the spear discovered by Robert Wallan, as noticed in my previous communication, and had been turned over unnoticed. Further excavations in this direction showed that the earth had not been moved, and all hope of finding other graves was abandoned.

Notwithstanding the obscurity in which the early history of Britain is enveloped, the antiquary still fondly clings to the hope that some additional light may be cast upon it by the acquisition of monumental evidence. Accident sometimes produces relics which keep alive this hope, and induce a further investigation of the sepulchral mounds which yet abound on our downs and uncultivated land. These however, unlike the grouped tumuli and graves of the Saxon period, offer but few provocatives to explore them. Their frequent large size, their compact construction, the time occupied in a proper investigation of their contents, and their situation frequently in lofty or exposed districts, render this description of barrow-digging at once tedious, irksome, and laborious.