Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 1.djvu/295

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BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION.
277

chased the ruins of St. Augustine's monastery, for the purpose of preserving them from destruction.

The meeting prolonged its sitting to a late hour, when it adjourned to the conversazione at Barnes's Rooms, which was numerously attended. The tables, as before, were covered with a variety of interesting objects, in addition to those exhibited on the Monday evening, including coloured drawings of paintings recently discovered in churches in Northamptonshire, by E. T. Artis; coloured drawings and sketches of various ancient remains in Kent, by Edward Pretty; and the beautiful piece of embroidery work exhibited at the meeting of the Medieval Section was suspended on the wall. Some lately published topographical works were laid on the table, among which were, "The History and Antiquities of Dartford," by Mr. J. Dunkin, and "The History of Gravesend," by Mr. Cruden. There were also exhibited the proofs of the plates of a forthcoming work on the Anglo-Saxon Coinage, by Mr. D. H. Haigh, of Leeds.

Lord Albert Conyngham exhibited a beautiful ornamental sword of the period of the renaissance, and a head of John the Baptist, finely sculptured in marble, by Bennini. The first impressions had also arrived, and were exhibited, of a handsome medal struck to commemorate the first meeting of the Association, by Mr. W. J. Taylor, of London.

Mr. C. R. Smith laid on the table numerous specimens of fibulæ, or brooches, in lead, found in the rivers at Canterbury, at Abbeville in France, and in the Thames at London. These brooches are stamped out of thin pieces of lead, and bear a variety of figures and devices, all of a religious tendency; they were obviously worn by devotees and pilgrims in the middle ages, as a kind of certificate of their having visited a particular shrine, or joined in some sacred ceremony. One of these fibulæ bears a mitred head, with the inscription CAPVT THOMƐ. This, Mr. Smith observed, had unquestionably been brought from Canterbury to London (where it was found) by some visitor to the shrine of Thomas à Becket, and he quoted a passage in Giraldus Cambrensis, in confirmation of this opinion. These brooches are from the collections of Mr. W. H. Rolfe, Mr. Welton, and Mr. Smith.

Thursday, September 12.

The entire day was devoted to excursions to Richborough and Barfreston, and to visits to the antiquities of the city. Professor Willis visited the cathedral and recurred to the work of Gervase, continuing his exposition of that writer to numerous members of the Association by whom he was accompanied. The party to Richborough comprised the Dean of Hereford. Dr. Buckland, Dr. Spry, the Rev. S. Isaacson, Messrs. Ainsworth, Bateman, Clarke, Hall, &c.—Richborough, the Rutupium of the Romans, has acquired new interest from the researches recently made by Mr. W. H. Rolfe, with a view to dis-