Museum at a very moderate price; and the addition of so valuable a mass of evidence bearing on a period hitherto of great obscurity, and of which the National Depository at present comprises scarcely any vestige, would prove a most important auxiliary to archæological enquiries. He was anxious to be informed whether the Faussett Collection had been secured for the benefit of the public.
Mr. Akerman offered some observations in regard to the curious objects produced by Mr. Neville, especially the situlæ, or highly ornamented pails, of which the Linton Heath excavations had supplied several remarkable examples. Mr. Akerman thought they had incorrectly been supposed by certain antiquaries to have been the ale vessels of the Saxons, whereas he conceived them to have been of a sacerdotal character. In two instances the wood of which they were formed proved to be yew, and it would be very desirable to ascertain the material of other specimens of these singular vessels. Ornamented pails, presenting some features of analogy to the Saxon situla, had been discovered in Ireland, as may be seen in a recent part of Mr. Roach Smith's "Collectanea Antiqua."[1]
Mr. Westwood expressed his warm concurrence in the observations made by Mr. Westmacott regarding the Faussett Collection, and the earnest desire which he felt, in common with many English antiquaries, that it should be purchased to form part of the National Series, the commencement of which had been viewed by them with lively interest. It had been reported that proposals for its purchase for some Continental Museum had been received; and it would be a disgrace if so instructive a collection were thus lost to the National Depository. Mr. Westwood thought that the occasion was one in which the members of the Institute would do well to represent to the Trustees of the British Museum their strong sense of the importance of securing such collections for public information.
It was stated that the Central Committee had addressed to the Trustees, since the last monthly meeting of the Institute, an appeal expressive of their feeling in regard to the high value of the Faussett Museum, especially as accompanied by a detailed record of every fact connected with the researches made by the distinguished antiquary, who had devoted his life to its formation and had preserved a Journal of all the excavations, with drawings of the relics discovered, comprised in five volumes. The authentic evidence thus preserved regarding the discovery of every object gave an unusual value to this collection, which had also supplied a great portion of the materials used by Douglas in preparing his "Nenia." The Central Committee had strongly urged their hope that the occasion thus offered might not be lost; and they trusted that they should now find amongst the members of the Institute at large, not only a hearty approval of the step which they had felt bound to take in the emergency of the occasion, but concurrence and earnest endeavours for the attainment of so desirable an object. The Central Committee had received an intimation from the Trustees, in reply to their urgent appeal, that there were no funds available for making the purchase.
Some further discussion took place, in the course of which Mr. Akerman stated that a requisition to the same purpose had been addressed by the Council of the Society of Antiquaries, and that their President, the Viscount Mahon, had received assurance that in the event of the Faussett
- ↑ Collectanea, vol. iii., p. 41; Irish Antiquities of the Saxon period.
