ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS The accompanying illustration (fig. 2) renders a description of the shape unnecessary, but something must be said with regard to the remarkable inscription in Greek capitals below the lip. The letters, like the frieze of hare and hounds below, were lightly cut by means of the wheel, and are evidently a rendering of the common Latin phrase utere felix, an explanation first suggested by Mr. Haverfield. The Greek phrase, with a feminine participle, has indeed been found on a small gold hairpin in France,' and it may be regarded as a wish that good health may attend the use of the phial. Mr. Read points out that, while the Greek inscription suggests the south of Europe, Byzantium itself may well have been the place of origin, for such an artistic and valuable object could hardly have been produced in the Teutonic north at that time. While similar hunting scenes occur on a number of vases dating from late Roman times, the shape of the vessel is neither Roman nor Saxon, and there can be little doubt that the phial was imported, not perhaps in the ordinary course of trade, but possibly by some warrior who had shared the plunder of a highly civilized community. Nothing further was found in the grave, at the west end of which the phial had been placed, so that it is now impossible to decide on the sex of the interred person. All the other vessels came from the graves of men, but a chemical analysis of the contents by Prof Church renders it probable that the phial once contained a cosmetic, and the interment may thus be an exception to the rule observed in this cemetery. Ornaments which usually mark a woman's grave, are exceptionally found associated with the spear or other symbols of the sterner sex : one particularly rich interment must be noticed. At the head lay the iron hoops of a bucket already mentioned, and elsewhere a pair of iron tweezers, an iron knife, buckle and ring, and a spiral ring of silver for the finger ; but the most interesting relics were a pair of bird-shaped brooches of bronze-gilt, inlaid with silver and set with garnets (fig. 6). These belong to an unmistakable type found in the Isle of Wight and Kent, and occasionally elsewhere in southern England, but also common in the contemporary graves of Normandy. The exact converse of the Saxon brooch is presented by a pair of iron brooches with pins of bronze : they are of a common late Roman form, but are rarely found in Anglo-Saxon graves. The gilt buckle with its plate (fig. i) as well as the small 'button' brooches (fig. 4) might have come from Kent or the Lie of Wight, but larger brooches on the same principle are known as saucer-brooches and are practically confined to the West Saxons. The High Down examples of this type are comparatively numerous, and except those from Saxon- bury are the only specimens the county has produced : the ornament consists of an alternation of concentric rings and radiating strokes, or the continuous spiral, recalling the Keilschnitt of the 5th century. The latter style of incising bronze is also seen on the delicately chased orna- ' Revue Archeohgique, xxxviii. (1879), 39-45. 343
