sense of extreme desolation, he called the clergy who attended him to remark that he had received from the abbot, who was in no way bound to him, more honour and observance than had been shown to him by all his colleagues and suffragans united. The last civility of the abbot was to entreat him to honour the house of St. Alban with his presence at the approaching festival of the Nativity. With tears in his eyes the Archbishop declined to accept the proposed kindness, saying that he should have been overjoyed to do so, but that a sufficient excuse for his refusal would soon be apparent. This, of course, was another ambiguous hint at the approaching catastrophe. In his turn, he requested the abbot to accompany him to Canterbury, and to share his tribulations and dangers. The importance of the approaching solemnity hindered the abbot from complying with this request, an omission which he soon lamented the more, as he was thus prevented from defending him in his danger or participating in the glory of his martyr's crown. It was but eight days after this occasion that the deed was perpetrated before the altar of St. Benedict, which brought so much disgrace and misery in its train, and excited so intense a hatred of the King and his party through every part of the European world. The clergy of Harwes itself, I am constrained to say, were evilly conspicuous during the Archbishop's sojourn in the neighbourhood. Nigel de Sackville, the vicar, was loud in his condemnation; and Robert de Broc showed his unworthy spite by maiming a horse of the Archbishop's while carrying provisions for his table. Both of them were excommunicated for these offences after sermon on Christmas Day. Five days subsequently all was over. (Matt. Paris, Hist. Maj. Par. 1644, p. 86.)

"A religious house formerly existed within the parochial limits. This was the Priory of Bentley. It is one of those establishments of which very little is known, nor probably should we know of its existence were it not for a solitary passage in Matthew Paris's history, and for two grants in the Patent Roll of the 38th of King Henry VIII. The latter relate to the grant of the Priory to Henry Needham, William Sacheverell, and Elizabeth Colte; and the former acquaints us with the unfortunate end of one of its priors. This happened in the year 1248, and the facts were simply these:-The prior of the house (called by the historian "quædam ecclesiola," and evidently, therefore, a place of little fame and importance,) with several of his brethren, were reckoning the value of a wheatmow, when their calculations were suddenly brought to a conclusion by the precipitate fall of the object itself. The rest escaped, but the prior was suffocated amongst the sheaves. Nothing, I believe, now remains to mark the site of the house.

"The rate-books commence with an entry dated July 19, 1684. The sum of £100 was ordered to be levied and assessed upon the parish towards the relief of the poor for six months. It is interesting to compare this with the present poor rates for the same period, which amount to upwards of £2,000. The last assessment in the volume bears date April 15, 1709.

The earliest volume of churchwardens' accounts commences with May 10, 1704. At page 18 of this volume occur the following notices:-'At a meeting of the parishioners on the 19th of May, 1702, it was ordered and agreed upon as follows:-Whereas Tanner Arnold, Esq., has at his own charge set up a Pulpit, and in his own Pew, in our parish Church: We, the Vicar, officers, and parishioners have in return built a Pew where the old Pulpit stood, and do hereby appoint it solely for his use.' 'Whereas, at the meeting of the parish on the 12th of March, 1706, Mr. Brian had liberty to build a Pew for himself and family in the corner in the south isle, upon condition he puts out a poor parish boy to prentice, we are satisfied that he has bound out John the son of John Wilde, and expended as much as he was obliged, and do now grant him the full use of that Pew.' This is signed by the Vicar, churchwardens, and overseers of the poor. At page 22 occurs: At a meeting at the Anchor, June 22d, 1709, it is this day ordered that the overseers of the poor do repair the Cage-house, so that it be useful to the ends for which it was at first erected. It is likewise ordered that the Ale-conners do exchange the old Scales, and get good large ones fit for the uses for which they were designed, and that the overseers pay the expenses of both.' Under the date of August 20, 1740, there is a sentence under seal, pronounced by Dr. Bettesworth, Dean of the Arches, against Dr. Saunders, the vicar, for burying strangers, and making vaults, and erecting monuments, without the consent of the parishioners. The reverend defendant was admonished not to offend in like manner again; and the sentence ordered to be entered on the register of burials. The last entry bears date June 7, 1777.”

The Rev. WILLIAM OXENHAM gave an account of a beautiful Ivory Chalice, which was exhibited to the meeting. It is of a slightly oval shape upon a round pedestal. From the cover springs a lofty spiral ornament, surmounted by a small cross, which, however, is modern, and is therefore omitted in the annexed Engraving.

Mr. Oxenham said:" By the kindness of our neighbour Mr. Young, of Sudbury Grove, I am permitted to bring hither for your inspection this very elegant cup, to which an interest attaches far beyond that which would else belong to its graceful symmetry, and elaborate workmanship; for there is the strongest evidence that from this same cup Archbishop Laud received the sacred element of Communion on the morning of his execution. The holy rite was administered to him by his chaplain, Sterne, and the cup, of which he had kept possession in his imprisonment, was then presented by him to the advocate, Hearne, who had zealously defended him on his trial, and who remained with him till he was led forth to die. This took place on Jan. 10, 1664-5, at 12 noon, when his body was buried at All Hallows Barking, but removed to St. John's College, Oxford, in 1663. By the marriage of a female descendant and representative of Hearne into the Page family, formerly so well known in this parish, the chalice became an heir-loom of the Pages, and from them has come by marriage into the pos

session of Mr. Young. This is no time for discussing the character of Archbishop Laud. Few will be bold enough to assert that, whatever were his failings, he had incurred the doom of blood-guiltiness. Few will deny him the praise of learning, piety, and sincerity, as an able, unflinching supporter of our Church and Monarchy.

"Another memorial of the event did, but unfortunately does not, accompany this hallowed relic. Hearne shrunk from following the Archbishop, as he had requested, to the scaffold; but sent his son. Laud, there addressing young Hearne with much affection, gave him some pieces of gold, which, being also reserved and handed down, were by another generation converted into a medal commemorative of Laud's fate. Until a very late period, it was scrupulously preserved by the Page family; but alas! an inheritor of that name was at length found who betrayed the trust, and this interesting memorial, reconverted, I fear, into forms of monetary value, has ceased to exist."

Mr. WILLIAM TAYLER then made some remarks on the value of Sepulchral Brasses, both as historical records and as relics of ancient art; and drew the attention of the company to the rubbings from those in Harrow Church, which were suspended round the room: particularly that of John Byrkhede, Rector of Harrow, of which he read a description by Mr. Niblett. (On this subject, a paper subsequently written by Mr. John Gough Nichols is printed at page 276.)

Mr. CHARLES BAILY announced the recent discovery in the church of two fragments of Flemish brasses (also more fully described by Mr. Alfred Heales at page 270).

Mr. Charles Baily also drew attention to a portion of a very early incised monumental stone of the time of Edward III., showing the face of the deceased and some of the letters of the inscription, which now forms the sill of the doorway to the small room over the south porch of the church.

A complete set of rubbings from the Brasses in Harrow Church was exhibited by Mr. WILLIAM WINKLEY, the Vestry Clerk.

On reference to the marks of the Goldsmiths' Hall, the Chalice and Paten belonging to Harrow Church were found to have been made A.D. 1568.

A paper by Mr. W. DURRANT COOPER, F.S.A., on the Parish Registers of Harrow on the Hill, was read by the Honorary Secretary, which will be found at page 285.

The Chairman, in a few concluding words, proposed the thanks of the meeting to the gentlemen who had read papers; and, a vote of thanks having been proposed to him, by Mr. Edmund Woodthorpe, and unanimously carried, the company proceeded to visit

1st. The Temporary Museum in the Statute Room.

Amongst the objects of antiquity which excited the most attention were some Saxon ornaments and crosses found among recent excavations in