the Virgin and St. John, and that the representation of Christ crucified and lying on his parent's knees, did not occur before the fifteenth century; M. Monnier corroborating this by allusions to the churches of the Jura, and M. Laurens to a stained glass at Villefranche, where above the head of the Father is a dove. M. Frelet then learnedly discussed the manner in which, during the twelfth century, the figures of Christ and the Virgin were depicted, observing that in pictures and sculptures the features given to Christ were invariably alike. He attributes this similarity to a conceived duty on the part of the artist to imitate a Mosaic traditionally said to have been given to Prudentius a Roman patrician by St. Peter himself, and of which mention was made by church writers of the fourth century, and that the manner prevailed until the fourteenth century. M. Frelet stated also that he had observed the same conventional similarity in the figures of the Virgin and of certain saints, and supposes that there was formerly some authentic portrait of the Virgin.
With these observations the session, the last of the Society in 1841, closed.
RECENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS.— ENGLISH.
The Principles of Gothic Ecclesiastical Architecture. By Matthew Holbeche Bloxam. Sixth edition. Illustrated with 200 woodcuts. 12mo. London, Bogue.
Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament and Costume. Compiled and Illustrated from Ancient Authorities and Examples. By A. Welby Pugin, Architect. Large 4to. Richly illustrated. London, Bohn.
Antiquities of Shropshire; from an old Manuscript of Edward Lloyd, Esq., of Drenewydd: revised and enlarged, from private and other Manuscripts, with Illustrations, by Thomas Farmer Dukes, Esq., F.S.A. 4to. Shrewsbury.
Ancient Coins of Cities and Princes: geographically arranged and described, by John Younge Akerman, F.S.A. No. 1.—Hispania. 8vo. J. R. Smith.
The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: with historical notes and numismatic illustrations. No. 1. By J. Y. Akerman, F.S.A. To be completed in about eight numbers. 8vo. J. R. Smith.
Oriental Cylinders. Impressions of Ancient Oriental Cylinders or Rolling Seals of the Babylonians, Assyrians, and Medo-Persians. By A. Cullimore. Nos. 1 to 4. London, Nickisson.