6. A book of the fraternity of St. Katherine. Small volume, on paper, fifteenth century.

7. Folio MS., compotus of the bailiffs from the time of Richard II to Henry VI.

8. A 12mo MS., fifteenth century, book of the fraternity of the Holy Cross in the Chapel of St. Andrew.

9. Book of the assize of bread and ale, a MS. of the fifteenth century. 4to.

10. Copies of wills, deeds, and court-rolls of Bridport, on vellum, fifteenth century.

11. Book of the "Fraternitas Torticiorum in Ecclesia Beate Marie de Bridport"; small MS., on vellum, fifteenth century.

The Bridport records are very voluminous; and no report, to do justice to them, could be made under at least two or three weeks' work. I have done what I could in the time. at my disposal, and have copied a short statement of accounts relating to Bridport church. The accounts of Lyme Regis illustrate local history and social life, as is abundantly shown in Roberts' Social History; but the following entries are all I see of much historical or general interest: "A.D. 1596. Item, payd for the cariage of a lettre to Mr. Drake, to geve him advertisement of the Spanishe shippes, and to cause his parishioners to come hither to help us, iiiid. Item, payd for cariage of a lettre to Sir Walter Rawley, iis." These entries may possibly be given by Roberts, but I have not his book here to refer to. The mayors' accounts commence in 1545, but those of many of the subsequent years are missing. There is also a folio volume of town accounts (1576-1664), solely of local interest. Other MSS.

are:

1. A book of orders of the Corporation, 1594 to Charles the Second's time. Folio.

2. Muster-books and letters, temp. Eliz.

3. Proceedings of the Court of Hustings, a sort of court of record, from a very early period. Obviously of no use excepting for local history.

4. Cobb accounts, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; very voluminous. Chiefly relating to duties levied on vessels and goods entering the Cobb.

5. Subsidy accounts, temp. Eliz. Bridport Corporation MSS. "Charges laide owte for the Churche of Brytporte in

anno domini 1656. Imprimis, for whopynge of the holywater bokett with two newe hoopys, iijd. Item, for mendynge of the locke for the vestuarye, viijd. Item, for mendynge of the haspe of the Churche yearde dore, ijd. Item, for ixli. of wax for the Paskalle taper, the faute taper, the alter, xs. vjd. Item, for mendynge of the image of the best crosse with wyer, ijd. Item, for iiijli. of lead multyd in the best candelstyckes, vjd. Item, to John Skynner for watchynge of the Sepulchre, iiijd. Item, for mendynge of the key of the vestuarye dore, iid. Item, payd to the plummer when he came to see the Crosse upon the Tower, viijd. Item, payd to John Hudson, William Butcherell, John Downe, and Thomas Downe, for theire paynes yn takynge downe the crosse, xvjd. Item, to John Howper for a borde to mende the gutter uppon the North Ile, vjd. Item, for nayles to nayle the same, jd. Item, for a pounde and di. of wax for the tapers ayenst the dedycacion of the Churche, xxjd.”

ON THE ANTIQUITIES OF PORTLAND.

BY GEORGE E. ELIOT, ESQ.

In reading a paper upon the antiquities of Portland I must warn my hearers at the beginning not to expect too much. The almost complete isolation of Portland has prevented it taking any great part in the historical events that have so crowded upon other parts of England; and while the great drama of the history of this country has been played out, Portland, like some back eddy, or some quiet pool by the side of a rushing torrent, has had only its own simple domestic history of its own simple and somewhat primitive inhabitants. Here we shall find no lordly mansions dating back to the times of feudal barons; no churches exhibiting the taste, the grandeur, and the piety of our ancestors hundreds of years ago; no Druidical circles or Roman amphitheatre. But this same isolation gives Portland a peculiar interest in the eyes of the archæologist, for while he finds, perhaps, but a few things that come within the range of his peculiar study, he finds those few, if I may so term it, in a

remarkable state of preservation: in fact, until within the last thirty years, the advancing step of modern improvement had done little to disturb the quaintness of primitive Portland, or to alter its native customs; but now (shall I say alas!) the ferry at the entrance to the island has been bridged, a railroad-station is the first object that greets you, the telegraph-wire spans the island, its stone is sawn by steam and worked by machinery, plate-glass windows appear in many of the shops, a government convict-prison stands in its midst; and I need hardly say that in the face of these innovations, every year it becomes more difficult to preserve the rapidly disappearing antiquities, social and physical, which have hitherto existed on the island.

As an evidence of the complete isolation of Portland until, as I have before mentioned, the last thirty or forty years, I will mention one or two facts. Until within this period marriage with a mainlander was almost unheard of in Portland, consequently we find a few surnames predominant in the island. Some years ago, in a Directory of Dorset, it was found that of a hundred and ninety-six persons having a trade or calling in the island, twenty-one (or nearly oneninth) bore the name of Pearce, fifteen were Combens, eight were Whites, ten were Stones, seven Flews, and five Scrivens; and if, as has been suggested, Pearce is a corruption of Pierre, of course the twenty-one Pearces and ten Stones. were identical names. There is also a curious term used for a mainlander. He is called in Portland a "Kimmerling." It is, I believe, a term unknown elsewhere; and my friend Mr. Barnes has made a suggestion which, I am sure, he will not mind my repeating. It is that the term comes from Cymru-ling" or Briton. If such be a true derivation, the term is an interesting relic of the past.

Pieces of evident Roman pottery, part of a tessellated pavement, and some personal ornaments, have from time to time been found in different parts of Portland. I am sorry to be able to do little more than mention these, as, although there is good evidence of these things having been found, through want of appreciation they have gradually become

lost. I have, however, succeeded in rescuing a few pieces of pottery, one found in an old well which was discovered a little to the south of the parish church. I am assured that a good deal more was found there, but it has

been lost. This well was discovered accidentally in a field by a shepherd, who, when driving a stake one day for his sheepfold, was surprised by its suddenly disappearing. It was opened by Mr. Pearce, a stonemason of Reforne, and was found to be filled up to within 4 feet of the surface. It was about 2 ft. 6 ins. in diameter; and the walls of the well were composed of neatly laid stones about an inch thick, such as are now found near the surface, amongst the rubble, in opening quarries. It was 16 ft. deep, and the bottom of the well was concave; and the bottom and the sides, to the height of some 4 or 5 ft. from the bottom, were plugged down with clay, so as to hold any water that might be there. At the bottom a great quantity of Roman pottery was found. It is much to be regretted that, through an accident, all these pieces have been, with very few exceptions, lost. Some of the smaller vases were very perfect; and of others, such large segments were found as to show very clearly the size and shape of the original.

Further south, still nearer the village of Southwell, great quantities of pottery have been found, as well as some iron implements, and all within some lines of embankment which are perceptible to this day. Those lines, when I saw them and examined them some time since, were clearly parts of a circle; and at the time I was there, the foundations of a field-wall were being excavated, and it is no exaggeration to say that the loose earth which was being thrown up was full of shreds of evidently Roman pottery. In a few minutes I filled my pockets.

Various other Roman remains have been discovered during the progress of the Verne works. Some of them have already been examined and written about.

I have with me here a few things which have been kindly put at my disposal, for this meeting, by Colonel Belfield of the Royal Engineers. First, I have here a bronze coin of Antoninus Pius, discovered about two feet under the surface on the North Common. Near it was also discovered what must have been once a pretty little ornament, a small circular Roman fibula. It has an inner circle marked off in divisions, in which the enamel, green and red, still remains visible; the hinge, or part of the clasp, at the back, remains. The enamel which fills up the rest of the disc has perished. Another coin I have is one of some variety. It is a gold

coin slightly dished in shape. Mr. Evans, the numismatist, has examined it, and thinks it Gaulish rather than British, although it certainly approaches very nearly some of the known British coins of the charioteer type. A third coin is a silver penny of Henry III. It has the king's head with a crown surmounted by a cross, and the right hand grasping a sceptre, also surmounted by a cross. On the reverse are the words TERRI-ON-LUND. Terri le Channier was one of the keepers of the mint in 1222. Another piece of antiquity I have here is a somewhat ponderous instrument of iron, about twenty inches in length, and fourteen pounds in weight. The weight is in the centre, the extremities tapering off, the one to a point, the other to a chisel-shaped end. This was found on the North Common, near the fibula and the coin of Antonine. It has been thought by some antiquaries that this and a similar instrument of iron, of similar weight, shape, and size, were specimens of metal-iron in the pig. This may have been the case; but I rather incline to the suggestion offered by Captain Ferguson, that they are primitive hand-jumpers,-the tool used for loosening the stone, to prepare it for being split and detached from the original block in the quarry. Not only are the edges bevelled, as Capt. Ferguson suggests, to save the hand from injury; but you will also observe a cavity on one side, which seems purposely made to give the hand a better and firmer grasp. Again, the fact of one end being chiselled and the other pointed, seems to show that it is a manufactured instrument; and further, the weight is so eminently fitted for the efficiency of the instrument as a jumper. And if our military forefathers could wear and fight in the suits of armour we see hung up in the Tower of London and elsewhere, it is equally possible that the arms of our ancestral quarrymen would have wielded with ease a fourteen pound jumper. I have also kindly lent me, by Mr. Holland, a very perfect urn and basin. They were found in a grave, in 1863, in the Witheyscroft Quarry, about four feet below the surface. The coffin was a rude one, made of slabs of rough stone, and the urn was full of fragments of bone.

We now come to some of the social antiquities,—the old customs which have been preserved so well, but which we fear may soon have to yield to modernising influences. For some hundreds of years Portland has been a royal manor,