The Picture which, by Her Majesty's gracious permission, is exhibited before the Society this evening, may be regarded as one of the accepted landmarks of historical painting in England.

The grouping of the figures has been made familiar to all students of art by a well executed line engraving taken from the picture in 1762, by Ch. Grignion, and published in the 4to. edition of Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting issued at that date. This was copied on a somewhat smaller scale by Ph. Audinet for the Rev. James Dallaway's edition of the Anecdotes published in 1826, and employed again in the more amplified reprint annotated by Ralph Nicholson Wornum in 1849. The plate which accompanies this paper is a photographic reproduction of a choice impression of Grignion's original engraving in 1762.

Hitherto we have been concerned with the Dalmatian coast-cities and the great parallel lines of road that traversed the length of the Province from the borders of Pannonia and Italy to those of Epirus. From Salonæ there were, in addition to these highways to the North and South, at least two main-lines of Roman Way that traversed the interior ranges of the Dinaric Alps and led to the Mœsian and Dardanian borders that lay to the East and South-East. Milliary columns have been found at Salonæ, one recording the completion by Tiberius' Legate Dolabella of a line of road leading from the Colony of Salonæ to a mountain stronghold of the Ditiones—an Illyrian clan probably inhabiting what is now the North-East region of Bosnia; another, also of Tiberius' time, referring to the construction of a line, 156 miles in extent, from Salonæ to a Castellum of the Dæsitiates, an Illyrian clan belonging to the Conventus or administrative district of Narona, and whose stronghold, according to the mileage given, must be sought somewhere on the Upper Drina, towards the Moesian and Dalmatian confines. This latter line may very well be that represented in the Tabula Peutingeriana as leading from Salonæ to Argentaria, a name which seems to connect itself with the silver-bearing ranges lying on the uncertain boundary of the ancient Dalmatia and Dardania, and which, from its mineral riches, was still known in the Middle Ages as Monte Argentaro.

I venture this evening to call attention to the ecclesiology and architecture of a part of Europe which, though tolerably well known to a few architects and others who have visited and written about its remarkable medieval treasures, is yet, in my opinion, a country which still requires a very extensive exploration, and which rejoices in the possession of some of the most interesting productions of the art of the middle ages which can be found anywhere on the continent.

The original City or fortress of Ardea was built upon a rock on the coast of the Mediterranean, although the sea has receded so much in that part that it is now three miles off. This is equally the case at Ostia, at the mouth of the Tiber, which is not many miles from Ardea. It is extremely probable that this was among the earliest settlements of the Greeks in that part of Italy, which afterwards came to be called Magna Graecia, although many modern critics will not allow this. According to my ideas, in all these cases of early settlements the walls themselves afford better evidence than anything that has been written about them, because these settlements were made and the walls were built centuries before the use of writing. The comparison of a score of examples of existing remains therefore tells more of true history than any verbal criticism can do.

The Torso of Dionysos, shown in the accompanying plate from two photographs by Mr. Robinson of Tunbridge Wells, is of much interest, both from its state of preservation and character, and, also, from being an entirely new representation of the god; but more particularly from its possessing such decided characteristics of the Praxitelean schcol as to lead to the inference that it must be a copy of some celebrated statue of the god by this great master, of which no other copy or description has come down to us, or any representation on coin, or vase, as far as I have been able to ascertain.

The coast-line of the extremity of Western Cornwall has been so often laid under contribution of late by the artist's pencil, that its general features are familar to many who have never paid the country a personal visit. The fantastic forms which the weather-worn granite assumes as it rears itself in bosses (or “karns” as they are locally termed) between the deeply-cleft gullies down which the streams of red mine-water find their broken way, are the characteristics of that portion of the cliff which, lying between the promontories of the Land's End and Cape Cornwall, are turned most directly towards the setting sun. It is along this line of coast—some six or seven miles in extent—that the stone cairns which formed the burying-places of an early population are found in greater abundance than is the case in any other portion of the district. Along this same strip of sea-board are no less than three of those fortifications known as cliff castles, defended in each case by lines of ramparts crossing the necks of headlands from side to side, terminating at either end in the abrupt precipice of the cliff, and always intended to resist attack from the land side. Within these lines stone cairns are frequently found—a fact which seems to point to the conclusion that the latter are the more recent of the two; since, were it not so, the castle-builders would have availed themselves of the pile of stone already on the spot and ready to their hand.

The first Norman cathedral church erected at Rochester was a building presenting remarkable, and in some respects unique, features. Though very little of the original fabric remains above ground, discoveries made from time to time, and fortunately put on record, enable us to ascertain its precise extent. Its documentary history, too, is fairly clear.

The Series of Paintings on the vault of the apse to the north aisle of St. Mary's Church, Guildford, unlike so many which have exercised our attention for a long time past, are of no new discovery, but were disclosed as far back as 1825. In 1838, they were described, and a solution proposed by my old friends, Edward John Carlos and John Gough Nichols, in the Archaeologia, vol. XXVII. p. 413. There are no two names which recall to me more reverent associations than those of the friends I have mentioned. Mr. Carlos was my master in archaeology, and Mr. Nichols's services are well known to this Society. But at the time they wrote little or nothing was known of the popular religious art of the Middle Ages. Didron had but begun his researches, and Maury had not written at all; whilst, in this country, whitewash still covered most of the walls of our churches. Therefore it is not a matter of surprise that their attempted solution is inaccurate, nor have those who have followed them been more fortunate. Guesses have been vaguely made, always an unsure process, for there is nothing more likely to deceive than attempts to find out the meaning of a subject without any principle to go upon: it is like a voyage upon an unknown sea, without rudder or compass. In fact, the subjects I am about to explain, are exceedingly obscure until the clue is obtained; and, at one time, I feared I must have confessed my ignorance, though not admitting the accuracy of the solution given by my friends. They are unique to my experience, and especially curious in the manner in which they are associated together.

When collecting materials for the third part of my Bibliographical Notes on Histories of Inventions and Books of Secrets, I observed in the sale catalogue of the duke of Hamilton's library a copy of the well-known tract, De Secretis Mulierum, usually ascribed to Albertus Magnus. The following description of it was there given:

“Alberti Magni Secreta Mulierum, wants A 1 (a blank leaf) and several leaves mended, sold therefore with all faults, red morocco extra, borders of gold, gilt edges, by J. Mackenzie, sm. 4to. s. l. & a.

It was in the month of March 1884, I think, that the May or of Winchester, Mr. Thomas Stopher, asked me to look at some ancient documents which had been found put away in a garret over a solicitor's office in Winchester. The documents, when I went to the place, proved to be the long-lost Charters of the City. The discovery was one of some interest just then, when we citizens were all thinking of the approaching celebration of the seven-hundredth anniversary of the mayoralty, in the following month of July. The discovery, too, gave us a nearly complete series of charters from Henry II. to Henry VIII. inclusive, whereas the earliest charter previously known to be in existence was that of Queen Elizabeth, now exhibited in our museum.

In the Book of Common Prayer, in the Kalendar, on December the sixteenth, the words

O Sapientia

occur, which words some have fondly imagined to be the names of a Virgin and Martyr, whom they tried, “with much ingenuity and more ignorance,” to prove one of the companions of S. Ursula; (1) and others have confounded the

O Sapientia

with the mediaeval devotion of the XV. O's, (2) which in no shape or form was, at any time, part of a liturgical service, but merely fifteen private prayers each beginning with the letter 0, as may be seen in Mr. Maskell's Monumenta Ritualia. (3) These XV. O's, however, are of some interest, as they were printed by Caxton in English, and are to be found in most of our Prymers. (3)

The south-western extremity of Asia Minor, opposite the Island of Cos and Rhodes, is noted for a remarkable promontory, extending nearly east and west towards the former island for a length of thirty-seven miles.

The promontory separates two gulfs, the northern one being the ancient Ceramicus Sinus, but now called the Grulf of Boudroum (from the Turkish town and castle of Boudroum, occupying the site of the celebrated city of Halicarnassus within it), and the Southern the Dorian Gulf.

Before offering a description of the interesting, although as yet incomplete, results of the excavations which I undertook last year at Civita Lavinia at the suggestion of my friend Mr. Pullan, and which I am still carrying on there, I will briefly recapitulate such particulars of the topographical position and historical notices of the ancient city of Lanuvium, which formerly occupied the site of our present researches, as are necessary for the appreciation of my subject.

The map on the next page will show (1) the position of the gulf of Smyrna, and how the mountains on either side of it close in with mount Sipylus on the north and mount Tactalu on the south; (2) how the two ranges of mountains meet at the east of the gulf, where there is a pass leading from the plain of Smyrna to the plain beyond, which in its turn leads to the plain of the Hermos at Cassaba. There is a bridle-path over this pass which leads to Cassaba, Sardis, and Philadelphia. About fifteen miles or thereabouts from Smyrna, a little to the right of the high road on the northern slope of Tactalu, is a village called by the Greeks Nymphio; this was at all times a favourite picnic-ing place for the Smyrniotes during the periods that the neighbouring country was free from brigands; afterwards it became a place often visited by strangers wishing to see the rock-cut figure, supposed to be the work of Sesostris, which is carved on a rock by the side of a stream a few hours distant from Nymphio.

Before describing the very interesting remains of these buildings recently brought to light, it may be well to give a short account of the worship of Vesta and the rules relating to her priestesses.

This cult was (according to tradition) brought to Rome from Alba Long, either in the reign of Romulus or of Numa.

The recent removal of the road which ran across the Forum Romanum by the Arch of Severus has at last brought to light the whole of the existing remains of the Rostra, and finally settled the oft-disputed question as to the size and form of this historically most interesting structure. The original Rostra stood on a different site; they were on the north side of the Forum Romanum, and were constructed the Comitium, which was a paved area in front of the Curia, probably surrounded by a rail or low screen. There is very strong evidence to show that the church of St. Adriano is the Curia as it was finally rebuilt by Diocletian; the brick-facing of the front of this building, with its enriched mouldings of fine hard stucco (opus albarium), is clearly work of the time of Diocletian; even in minute details it corresponds with certain parts of the Thermae of that emperor. The Comitium then must have been in the space between St. Adriano and the Arch of Severus—now occupied by a modern road, which buries the original level to the depth of about twenty feet. It appears to have been a paved area, not raised above the Forum but a few steps below it.

The little building which forms the subject of this paper was, until the summer of last year, one of the very few examples left to us of the adjuncts to the gatehouse of a monastery. It is now utterly destroyed, not one stone being left on another. There is no published account of it, and the only plan which shows its relation to the other conventual buildings is, I believe, the one which accompanies this paper. I have prepared the following account in the belief that the Society of Antiquaries, though powerless to prevent the destruction of the ancient buildings of the country, will not hear of their demolition without wishing to preserve for its members authentic memorials of their existence. I am indebted chiefly to Mr. Charles Lynam, of Stoke upon Trent, for the drawings which enable me to place the features of the building plainly before you.

Any discovery connected with the Roman Conquest of Britain is of such general as well as antiquarian interest that I need no apology for calling the attention of the Society to a remarkable relic recording the success of the Roman invaders, even though it will not be now described for the first time.

William Lloyd, one of the most learned and eminent of English bishops, descended from an ancient Welsh family seated in the island of Anglesea, was born in 1627, at Tilehurst, in Berkshire, of which place his father was rector, and also vicar of Sunning, in the same county. He received his early education from his father, and was entered in 1638 a student of Oriel college, Oxford, and the following year obtained a scholarship at Jesus college. In 1642 he proceeded B.A. and left the university, but returned in 1646, when he commenced M.A. and was chosen fellow of his college. He was ordained deacon in 1649 and afterwards became tutor to the children of Sir William Backhouse of Swallowfield, Berks. In 1654 he was presented to the living of Bradfield by Elias Ashmole, but, a dispute arising as to the right of presentation, he resigned the living. In 1656 he was ordained priest, and went to Wadham college, Oxon. as governor to John Backhouse, Esq., a gentleman commoner, with whom he continued till 1659. In September 1660 he was incorporated M.A. at Cambridge, and was made a prebendary of Ripon. In 1666 he was appointed a king's chaplain, and in 1667 was collated to a prebend of Salisbury, having shortly before proceeded D.D. at Oxford.