or even those less illustrious, we shall Of all the thoughts of God that are Along the Psalmist's music deep; The poet's star-tuned harp to sweep,- What do we give to our beloved? Sleep soft, beloved! we sometimes say, Sad dreams that through the eyelids But never doleful dreams again "He giveth his beloved sleep." O earth! so full of dreary noises, Though on its slope men toil and reap; "He giveth his beloved sleep." Sufficient such a rest to keep; "He giveth his beloved sleep." For me my heart-that erst did go, Most like a tired child at a show, Seeing through tears the juggler leap- Who "giveth his beloved sleep." And friends,-dear friends,-when it shall be That this live breath is gone from me, When round my bier ye come to weep; Archæologia, or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity, published by the Society of Antiquaries of London. Vol. XXX. pt. 2. (Continued from p 281.) 24. An account of the opening of some Barrows in South Dorsetshire. In a letter from John Sydenham, Esq. of Greenwich. There is no doubt but the use of the spade, and a careful observation of the objects it reveals, will do much towards the classification of our sepulchral antiquities; barrows will no longer be designated as British, Roman, Saxon, or Danish, according to the vague description which tradition may have affixed to them. Of the vestiges of the earliest inhabitants of Dorsetshire, Mr. Sydenham tells us, "Few counties are so rich in relics of our Celtic forefathers as Dorsetshire. The numerous hill cities that crown its heights, the ancient settlements that are traceable on its hill sides, the stone circles and other lithite monuments that yet rear their grey and venerable forms, the innumerable barrows that bestud its elevated and unploughed downs, still remain the monumental indications of the customs, the modes of life, the religious rites, and the funeral ceremonies of the Celtic inhabitants of our land. This rich mine of antiquarian and historical associations has been little explored; and it is, therefore, with less reluctance that I venture upon some detail of circumstances connected with Dorsetshire barrows, leaving it to others of more enlarged experience and of more extensive reading to apply the facts to the purposes of historical illustration. The circumstances in which the contents of the Dorsetshire barrows differ from those of Kent are chiefly negative. They offer few evidences of elaborate ceremonial depositure. The explorer is rewarded by no domestic vessels, or other fictile vases of graceful form, and indicating an advance in the art of pottery,no pateræ of bright Samian ware, no elegant balsamaria, no glittering trinkets of gold, no ornaments of jet or amber, no glass beads, no lamps, no metal vessels, no instruments or weapons of iron, rare exceptional instances of articles in bronze, and, above all, no illustrative coins. These barrows, however, are not destitute of a considerable degree of interest, heightened indeed by these very peculiarities, which indicate that here are the ancient sepulchres of the earliest fathers of the land, and that the history of tu mular interment in Britain cannot be carried higher than the period of their construction. In form these barrows generally present the segment of a sphere thrown up with great precision. There are a few instances of the bell-shaped barrow, a species frequently of large size; occasionally the barrow is encircled by a shallow ditch, and in rare instances a low vallum is found beyond the ditch. There are also a few of the varieties termed by the cognoscenti in tumular physiognomy as the long barrow,' the twin barrow,' the druid barrow,' and the pond barrow,' though from the absence of sufficient remains in the latter, I am not satisfied of their sepulchral intention. In size, the Dorsetshire barrows vary considerably, ranging from a height of twenty or twenty five feet to a scarcely perceptible elevation above the surrounding soil. In tumular research, however, as in many other pursuits, appearances are not to be trusted. Fronti nulla fides. It is not in the largest barrow, nor in that of the most graceful outline, that the explorer must look for the richest reward for his toil. Many a large and elegant barrow has produced but a simple interment by inhumation or cremation, without any urn or accompanying relic of any kind; whilst some contiguous humble-looking barrow of five or six feet elevation has been rich in interments of varied character, itself containing the elements for a whole chapter on the varieties of tumular interment. The contents of barrows, however, constitute their most interesting and important features, and, in this respect, the barrows of South Dorsetshire present peculiarities not elsewhere observable. One of the more striking of these peculiarities is the utter want of uniformity in the modes of interment. Combustion and inhumation are manifestly contemporaneous practices, and different varieties of both these modes of deposit are observable in the same barrow. The articles found associated with the interments are few in number. They comprise urns of varied size and form, of coarse material and rude manipulation, fragments of pottery, implements of bone, beads of clay, bone, and shells, flint arrow-heads, deers' antlers, and, but rarely, weapons and implements of bronze." An interesting detailed description of some of the barrows explored here follows. The barrows of the south of Dorsetshire have peculiarities which constitute them a class sui generis. There is an absence of uniformity in the modes of interment; cremation and inhumation are often observable in the same barrow. These variations occur indifferently, in such a way that it is not possible to conclude that inhumation had succeeded cremation, for instances are found of alternation of such deposits in which inhumation had been the earliest and latest mode of the funeral rites. Examples of tumuli inanes or honorary barrows are not wanting in Dorsetshire. The barrows explored by Sir Richard Colt Hoare in Wiltshire, are manifestly those of tribes inhabiting Britain before its colonization by the Romans; but the articles which they contain of gold, brass, ivory, glass, and amber show that they are of a date posterior to the primitive sepulchres of South Dorset shire. 25. Letter from Capt. Evan Nepean, R.N., to Samuel Birch, Esq. upon that part of Mr. Birch's Report upon the Antiquities discovered in the Island of Sacrificios, in which Mr. Birch considers the different objects assembled to have been the work of the Aztecks or Mexicans. Captain Nepean concludes that most of the above-mentioned objects ought to be assigned to the early period of the Tolteks, who, Humboldt informs us, were in the possession of Mexico five hundred years previous to the arrival of the Aztecks. The great depth at which the relics were discovered, the decomposed condition of the pottery, and the fact that some of the skulls found were in the fossil state, are the circumstances on which Captain Nepean claims a much higher period for their deposit than that assigned by Mr. Birch. 26. Observations on a fictile Vase representing the contest of Hercules and Juno, preserved in the Department of Antiquities in the British Museum. By Samuel Birch, Esq. In the subject of this vase Mr. Birch recognises the Arcadian tradition of the combat of Hercules and Juno at Pylus; in the female supporter of Her. Juno Sospita or Lanuvian Juno. The cules Pallas, and in his opponent the paper is of classical value, and illustrated by a plate showing in clear delincation the subject represented on the vase. 27. Extracts in Prose and Verse from an old English Medical Manuscript, preserved in the Royal Library at Stockholm. Communicated by George sanguiferous systems, and they operate Stephens, Esq. 28. Observations upon the Extracts from an ancient English Medical MS. in the Royal Library at Stockholm. By T. J. Pettigrew, Esq. F.R.S., F.S.A. These communications, the one having given rise to the other, are naturally classed together in our notice. The attention of our readers has been already turned to the medical super. stitions of our forefathers, by a paper detailing the contents of an ancient MS. treatise on the practice of medicine as connected with planetary influences, and by our review of Mr. Pettigrew's separate volume on the subject.† Mr. Pettigrew is of opinion that the MS. from which extracts are given by Mr. Stephens is of the latter end of the fourteenth century, and considers that the ancient tracts extant on "Lechecraft or Medicine," may be dated from the Anglo-Saxon times, from the tenth to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It must not, however, be forgotten that superstitious recipes in the practice of medicine were prescribed, and found a place in printed books long after the period last specified. A short specimen of curative charms may suffice: "For the falling sickness say this word anamzuftus in his [the patient's] ear, when he is fallen down in that evil, and also in a woman's ear anamzafta, and they shall never more after feel that evil." We modernize the orthography of the above, not without apologising for having deprived the prescription of a leading charm for antiquaries. Mr. Pettigrew judiciously observes that these medical absurdities were "Entertained at a period when the hallucinations of the imagination were permitted to usurp the place of observation, and the greatest puerilities superseded the employment of reason and experiment. . . The diseases in which they have been principally employed will all be found to be under the influence of the nervous and * Observations by A. J. K. on a MS. Treatise preserved at Loseley House in Surrey, on Grammar, Judicial Astrology, and Physic. Gent. Mag. for May, 1843, p. 473. March, 1844, p. 276. chiefly by inspiring hope, which imparts tone and creates increased action in the frame generally, or by exciting disgust and horror, which frequently serves to break up a chain of morbid actions and associations, and thus enables nature to resume her healthy condition." 29. Account of the Monumental Brass of Bishop Hallum, in the Cathedral Church of Constance. By R. Pearsall, Esq. of Carlsruhe. This elegant sepulchral memorial is rendered doubly interesting by the generally believed tradition that the brass part of Bishop Hallum's monument was manufactured in England, and sent from thence to cover his remains; this circumstance "affords a presumption that in the early part of the fifteenth century our brass engravers were reputed to be superior to those of the Rhenish cities, where the thing might have been executed without incurring the charge of transport and the risk of damage which must have attended any shipment from England." Certain peculiarities in the form and arrangement of the ornaments of this memorial tend to confirm the tradition above mentioned. Robert Hallum was educated at Oxford, became Archdeacon of Canterbury, and in 1403 was nominated Chancellor of Oxford. He was first designated for the see of York by papal bull; but, afterwards nominated to Sarum, A.D. 1407, and was made cardinal in 1411. He died on the 4th September, being then ambassador from the English court to the Council of Constance. 30. On Antiquarian Excavations and Researches in the Middle Ages. By Thomas Wright, Esq. M.A. F.S.A. &c. Mr. Wright's essay shows us that the assistance of the spade in exploration of ruined buildings and tombs of antiquity has been called into operation at a very early period; it is true rather with a view to the convertible utility of the objects sought for than from any desire thereby to illustrate the arts and manners of obsolete ages. "Under the Anglo-Saxons, down to a late period, our island appears to have been covered with the majestic remains of Roman towns and cities, although people had been gradually clearing away many of them in order to use the materials for new buildings. As early as the middle of the seventh century, when the monks of Ely wanted a stone coffin for the body of the abbess Etheldrida, they sought for it among the ruins of the Roman town, the site of which is now occupied by the town of Cambridge. They came to a small deserted city which, in the language of the Angles, is called Grandchester, and presently, near the city walls, they found a white marble coffin, most beautifully wrought, and neatly covered with a lid of the same kind of stone. "At a much later period we shall find the abbots of St. Alban's collecting the materials furnished by the ruins of Verulamium (or, as the Saxons called it, Wærlam-ceaster) to build their church. Many Anglo-Norman works still existing are built in part of Roman materials. We find also that at an early period people, not content with taking what was above ground, made excavations under the soil in search of the relics of ancient days. It seems probable that the different tribes who occupied the ground frequently opened the barrows of the tribes who had preceded them, in search of treasures. The earliest medieval poems, such as the romance of Beowulf, speak of the treasures of a primeval age [sic],* consisting of cups and other vessels, personal ornaments, and weapons rescued by their heroes from beneath the tumulary mounds of the giants (according to the belief of the unconverted Germans), or of the heathen (according to the Christianized notions). We hear of the opening of barrows as late as the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and the discovery of funereal deposits and of treasures. The Anglo-Saxons appear to have collected immense quantities of articles of Roman manufacture by excavating, particularly vases, and other vessels of different materials, and the earlier rituals frequently contain forms for blessing these implements of Pagan manufacture, in order to make them fit for Christian use. In many instances, particularly in the earlier times of the Anglo-Saxons, these Roman utensils appear to have been bu ried again in Anglo-Saxon barrows, which We recommend that antiquaries should employ some much more definite term for the early ages than primaval, which embraces any period up to Noah's flood, and before it. GENT. MAG. VOL. XXII. .... accounts for the discovery of mixed deposits of earlier and more recent articles in one place. Mr. C. Roach Smith recently exhibited to the Society a brazen bowl of Roman workmanship, which had been mended with pieces of metal bearing proof of Saxon art. . . . . The earliest systematical excavations in England of which we have a definite account were made among the ruins of Verulamium in the earlier part of the eleventh century by two successive abbots of St. Alban's, Ealdred and Eadmer. We learn from Matthew Paris that Abbot Ealdred overthrew and filled up all the subterranean crypts' of the ancient city, as well as the vaulted passages, with their windings, some of which ran under the bed of the river. He did so because they had become hiding-places for thieves and strumpets. The subterranean ruins of Roman Paris are described as the haunts of a similar class of society in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. . . The abbot laid up carefully all the unbroken tiles or bricks, and the stones which were fit for building, as materials for the new church which it was his intention to erect. With this object he made great excavations, in order to discover stone buildings. As the workmen were digging near the bank of the river they found oak planks, with nails in them, and covered with pitch, apparently part of a ship, as well as old rusty anchors and oars, which proved, as Matthew Paris thought, that the sea had once encircled the town. Moreover, they found shells, such as are commonly cast upon the sands of the sea shore. The places where these were found received the appropriate names of Oysterhill, Shelford, Anchorpool, Fishpool, &c. They uncovered the foundations of a vast palace, and they found a hollow in the wall like a cupboard, in which were a number of books and rolls, which were written in ancient characters and language that could only be read by one learned monk, named Unwona. He declared that they were written in the ancient British language; that they contained the invocations and rites of the idolatrous citizens of Wærlamceaster,' with the exception of one, which contained the authentic life of St. Alban. 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