Egesanstane, recorded by Bede and the Saxon chronicle as having been fought A.D. 603. The war of Kaltraez he placed, for the reasons already stated, in A.D. 641; but observed that there were many passages in the poem of Aneurin, which seemed to allude to a later contest also, that occurred in A.D. 649, and pointed out the curious light which the record of the latter in the annals of Ulster threw upon an obscure passage in Nennius, relative to Penda of Mercia and the city of Juden. Mr. Irving supported these dates by minute criticism, but the number of arguments adduced, and their relative dependence, renders any abstract of them exceedingly difficult. FEBRUARY 8. The following associates were elected : Captain Arthur Chilver Tupper, Athenæum. Colonel Galvagni, 36, Chapel street, Belgrave square. William Langslow Horton, esq., Alpha road. John Calvert, esq., 189, Strand. Rev. John Edmund Cox, M.A., F.S.A., 44, Burton crescent. George Adams, esq., 126, Sloane street. Thanks were voted for the following presents: From the Royal Society. Their Proceedings (in continuation), vol. vi. 8vo. 1853. Address of the Earl Rosse, P.R.S., delivered at the Anniversary From the Society. Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie, 3o série, 10o volume. Paris, 1853. 4to. Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de Picardie, tom. ii, 1853. Bulletins de la Société. Année 1853. Amiens. 8vo. From the Author. Baths and Washhouses, by Geo. A. Cape, jun. London, 1854. 8vo. An Essay on the Connexion between Astronomical and Geological 8vo. From J. G. Nichols, Esq., F.S.A. The Gentleman's Magazine for 1853. London. 8vo. Mr. John Wimbridge, F.S.A., exhibited fine rubbings taken from two interesting brasses. No. 1, from Chrishall church, near Saffron Walden, Essex, is a large and fine monumental brass to the memory of sir John de la Pole and his wife Joan; the latter was daughter and heiress of John lord Cobham, of VOL. X. 13 Cobham, Kent. For many years this brass was partly concealed under the pews in the nave of the church, but when Mr. Wimbridge took the rubbing now exhibited in October 1849, it had been carefully removed within the altar railings by the rev. T. Everth, and many thanks are due to him for effectually preserving so fine an example of monumental art, and of so early a date as 1370 or 1375. An interesting description of this brass will be found in the sixteenth number of the Archæological Journal, by Mr. C. J. Manning, who describes it as representing "a knight in the armour of the end of Edward the Third's reign, holding his baldrick in his left hand, and the right hand of his lady in his right; her head-dress is the caul usually seen at the same period, and from her arms hang the sleeve lappets which are sometimes, but rarely, found in contemporary brasses. The costume of the figures, and the style of the brass, is such as to make it almost a certainty that it was executed about the year 1375; at which time, it is probable, they also rebuilt the church, as their arms remain on the south door; and many parts of the building are of late decorated or transition character." The fine triple canopy is mutilated, and the shafts which supported it are entirely gone. It is from the arms underneath the figures that the names of the persons commemorated have been discovered. Of the inscription, which was marginal, a very small fragment only remains, with the words "sa feme priez." No. 2 was a rubbing from a brass in St. Nicholas church, Taplow, Bucks. It consists of an elegant cross brass, described in the Manual of Monumental Brasses, as consisting of a long stem resting on a dolphin, and terminating in a head composed of eight ogee arches, alternately large and small, with tasteful finials, and surrounding a small male figure, date c. 1350. The figure has flowing hair, moustaches, and beard; and wears a hood, cape, tunic or tight-fitting gown, reaching below the knees, partly open in front, and with two pocket holes; the sleeves are short, and hang down from above the elbow in long lappets, exhibiting the tight sleeves of an under dress; the legs are in tight hose, and the feet in low shoes, laced up at the sides. This brass has been relaid in a fresh stone in the new church, and the inscription incorrectly placed above the cross; one of the finials, and probably some leaves from the sides of the stem, are lopt. Inscription: "Nichole de Aumbedine iadis Pessoner (Poissonier) de Londres gist ici; Dieu de Salme eit mercy. Amen." Mr. C. Bischoff, jun., remarked upon the word Pessoner in the foregoing inscription, that although the grant to the Fishmongers' Company was not made until 1433, still they had previously been a strong and affluent body. In 1320, the Salt Fishmongers were the rivals to the Goldsmiths, and so much strife arose between the parties that many were obliged to desert their avocation. This quarrel gradually infused itself into the other citizens; and the founding of the Company was, it is generally conceived, to protect them from further abuse. The struggle began in 1322, and as this fishmonger N. d'Aumbedine died in 1350 in Bucks, it may be possible that he was among those who were forced to quit London for their personal safety. This necessarily must be matter of doubt; yet we may fairly infer that a fishmonger of 1350 was a man of sufficient repute to afford so expensive a monument as the one, the rubbing from which was now exhibited. The cross is engraved in Gough's Sepulchral Monuments. Mr. James Clarke sent an impression from a brass coin, taken in a shop at Framlingham for a farthing thirty-six years since, and now in his possession; it was of Faustina the elder. Mr. Clarke also transmitted an impression from a silver seal found at Kettleborough hall, bearing the crest of the Mowbray family. The rev. Thomas Hugo, F.S.A., exhibited some fibulæ of a late Roman period, found in Ratcliff Highway, including one which from its circular ornamentation was considered to be Danish. (See plate 15, fig. 2.) One of the Roman fibulæ, a decade brooch (fig. 3), resembled that obtained from Maidstone, exhibited by Mr. Ashpitel to the Association. (See Journal, vol. viii, p. 369.) It presented ten points, each of which formerly contained some ornament. Mr. F. J. Baigent made a communication on a discovery at Winchester College, which, with illustrations, will appear in the next number of the Journal. Mr. John Brent, jun., F.S.A., laid before the meeting a drawing from a Runic cross, preserved in the Dover museum. It has been figured in the Archæologia, vol. xxv. A drawing from another stone from the same museum, originally discovered in the interior of the Saxon church in Dover castle, presented the portion of an inscription on what is reasonably conjectured to have been the sepulchral slab of Peter de Creone or Craon, who, it appears,' was known, as well as his father Maurice, to have been an Anglo-Norman poet of the latter part of the twelfth or beginning of the thirteenth century. The inscription reads: ... CET. . PETRVS. DE. CREONE. .. E. PRO. ANIMA. EIV... Hic jacet Petrus de Creone. Orate pro anima ejus. 112 Mr. A. H. Burkitt, F.S.A., read a second paper on the subject of "London Tradesmen's Signs.' In this communication Mr. Burkitt endeavoured to separate as much as possible a notice of those signs only which were more especially appropriated to hotels, taverns, and other places of public resort. "It would be curious," he observed, "if space would allow it, to follow up the subject by the enumeration of the chief 1 Mr. Pettigrew remarked that this inscription had been brought to the notice of the Association in 1845. 2 For the first part, see Journal, vol. ix, pp. 40-59. places in London in which our early dramatists have laid some of the best scenes in their plays, more especially from the reason that it is well known they were accustomed to introduce their favourite places of resort, and further illustrate them by characters of the time who were their special associates. Thus we find of Ben Jonson's favourite place of resort, he says: "At Bread Street Mermaid having dined and merry, Proposed to go to Holborn in a wherry.' "In the accounts of the personal expenditure of Shakespeare's 'Jockey of Norfolk,' we find payd for wyn at the Mermayd in Bred Street, for my master (Sir John) and Syre Nicholas Latemer, xd.' Middleton, in his comedy of Your Five Gallants, written in 1608, refers to this tavern, and also to its rival the Mitre. "The fact of the Mermaid being named variously, as Bread-street, Friday-street, and Cheap, has caused some to suppose that there were different clubs held at rival houses which bore the same sign; but there is reason for believing that the house was the same, with entrances into each of these places. There is a token of this house in the Beaufoy collection in the museum of Guildhall, the date of which is 1652. The Mitre stood near the spot now occupied by Mitre-court, Cheapside. Not. far from these taverns, was until very recently to be seen, a good old carved sign of Gerard the Giant in a niche in front of Gerard's hall, which famous house together with its beautiful crypt has recently been removed to make way for a new line of street.' It appears that this sign was set up in the reign of Charles II, but removed from its original place about thirty years ago, and having undergone the operation of amputation of the legs, it was then placed near the tap-room door. The last landlord, however, restored it to its original position, as well as its legs. This curious object is of carved wood, and painted. The costume is quaint, a red robe flows from the shoulders, the hat is slouched, and of the pilgrim fashion, and in his hand he holds a sturdy staff. It is to be hoped that this old sign will find a final resting place in the city museum. "The royal and loyal sign of the Crown was, as at the present day, the most common of all. A curious instance is mentioned by our old chroniclers of dire misfortune attendant on one who adopted it. In the middle of the thirteenth century, Cheapside was an open space, known as the crown-field, which took its name from an inn of that sign at the end of it. In the reign of Edward IV, it appears that this house was kept by one Walter Walker, who said by way of joke, that he would make his son heir to the crown.' The unfortunate host was condemned for high treason and hanged opposite his own door. 1 For views and particulars of this interesting place, see Journal, vol. ix, pp. 113-120, and plates 15-18. "Southwark is particularly rich in interesting specimens of ancient inns, many of which retain their old designation, but few exhibit their old sign. A gilt half-moon is the only one now to be seen projecting over the inn door. The White Hart, Catherine Wheel, Talbot, and a few others, are good specimens of ancient domestic architecture, and from their being situated at the back of the present line of street, is to be attributed their preservation. In some, their old and characteristic galleries run round their entire court-yards, while others have only partly preserved them. "One of the most interesting of these houses is the Talbot, or Tabard. A fragment only of its hanging gallery exists, but in the interior may still be traced portions of ancient carved decorations deserving special attention. This inn is well known as having been the resort of Chaucer, Gower, Fletcher, and others, and a famous point of departure of the pilgrims to the shrine of Thomas à Becket. Some doubts have arisen as to the original meaning of this sign, but it is generally allowed that the true one is the heraldic coat, or Tabard, and which may be ranked amongst the royal insignia. "The Inns of Court, as their name implies, owe their origin to the fact of their having been common hostelries, and the resort of members of the legal profession, and in course of time became exclusively so. We have the authority of Dugdale, who says in his Origines Juridiciales, that Clement's Inn was a common hostelry for travellers, with the sign of the Blessed Virgin, and known as Our Lady Inn. Previous to the reign of Henry V, Lyon's Inn was of the same description, and the device of the Lion they still exhibit over the gateway. On either side of the gateway of the Inner Temple in Fleet-street may be seen, stone carvings of the Holy Lamb, and the Flying Horse. The former innocent device, although appropriate in connection with the ancient church, which is dedicated to St. John of Jerusalem, has been assumed by the society of the law, which object, as well as the Pegasus of the Inner Temple, has given rise to many clever satires in verse in respect to innocence and expedition. Over the gateway of New Inn, in Wychstreet, is their device or sign, a vase of flowers, figured by Dugdale, a flower-pot, argent. Thavys Inn still exhibits their wheatsheaves, and Staple Inn the device of the staplers, a sack of wool. The spot now occupied by the Three Cranes Wharf at the foot of Southwark Bridge, marks the spot where formerly stood that famous house, the 'Three Cranes in the Vintrie.' Whether the three birds or the levers for unloading goods were originally meant as the device on the sign-board, is uncertain. The token of this house, in the Beaufoy' collection at 1 "Descriptive Catalogue of London Trades, Tavern, and Coffee-House Tokens current in the Seventeenth Century, presented to the Corporation Library by H. B. H. Beaufoy, by J. H. Burn. London, 1853." Printed for the use of the corporation, a copy of which has been liberally presented to the Association. |