By Mr. Octavius Morgan,M.P.—A circular plate of brass, representing the Agnus, with a cross-nimb around its head, and a circle thus inscribed: "AGNVS DEI QUI TOLLIS PECCATA MVNDI, MISERERE NOBIS," the last word being in the field, under the head of the lamb, and the letters not reversed. A border of foliated ornament surrounds the whole. This plate was probably used for bossing out ornamental metal work, such as the lid of a pyx, which being hammered up on this mould would present the Agnus in relief, with the letters of the legend in their proper direction. Diam. 2 in. Mr. Morgan received it from a watchmaker at Newport, Monmouthshire; it had been in his possession upwards of thirty years; its origin or place of discovery could not be traced.
By Mr. C. Desborough Bedford.—Fragments of "Samian" and other pottery of various periods, including portions of a fine salver of Moorish ware with metallic lustre in the decorations, found under Haberdashers' Hall during excavations recently made; also several pavement tiles of the XIVth century, one of them bearing a representation of a mounted knight. These reliques lay at a depth of about seventeen feet. A silver betrothal ring, parcel-gilt; the hoop formed with hands conjoined, and inscribed, IHC' NAZAREN'. Found in ploughing near the ruins at Sudbury.
By Miss Julia M. Buckett.—A silver tetradrachm; a medal relating to the victory by the King of Prussia, at Rosbach, in 1757, dug up at Hurst, near Reading; and a pack of playing-cards, each card bearing an engraved subject connected with the history of the Spanish Armada. The description of each is engraved underneath. The costume of the figures appears to assign these cards to the time of Charles II. They may possibly have been produced by Randal Taylor, a dealer near Stationers' Hall, who about 1679 put forth an advertisement of a pack of cards, price one shilling, forming a history of all the Popish plots from those in Queen Elizabeth's time to that against Charles II., with the manner of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey's murder. Mr. Chatto, the author of the most complete work "On the origin of Playing Cards," had not been able to discover a pack of these, of which he found the advertisement only in the Bagford Collections, British Museum.[1] Mr. Chatto describes many fanciful packs of cards published about the close of the XVIIth century, some of them being political or satirical, whilst others related to costume, mathematics, astronomy, and even the art of carving at table.
By Mr. Le Keux.—A series of engravings representing the restored Cathedral of Trondhjem, or Drontheim, in Norway, assigned to the XIth century. That city was long the residence of the Norwegian kings, and their ancient throne may still be seen in the palace, now an arsenal. The Cathedral was a remarkable structure, partly destroyed by fire in 1710; it has been partly rebuilt, and the choir is still used. Many portions of the building are remarkable for the details and sculptured ornaments, the massive piers, and other architectural features of good Norman character, as also of a subsequent period. The earlier work bears much resemblance to that which is found in certain buildings in the North of Scotland. Since the union with Sweden, this cathedral has had the privilege of being the place where coronations are performed.
by Mr. Nesbitt.—A collection of casts from Medieval ivory carvings of
- ↑ Harl. MS. 5947. See a memoir on a remarkable pack of political cards, t. Charles II., Archæol. Assoc. vol. ix., p. 121.
