pig at the feet, with a bell on its neck, probably St. Anthony; part of the figure of the Blessed Virgin and a lily pot, being the Annunciation; a portion of an entombment, and the head of the Blessed Virgin, crowned. From the same church, the Rev. E. J. Alvis sent photographs of a gable cross, on which are holes where a crucifix has been fixed. MR. R. GILBERT, jun., of Rockland St. Mary, sent a drawing of a monument of the Gawdy family, 1664, in Claxton Church, which he considered in danger of injury from the unsafe state of the roof. DR. BENSLY exhibited a tracing of a map of Norwich in the Record Office, London, of the date 1541, earlier than any known, and apparently intended to show the bounds of sanctuary, in which convicted persons might take refuge; and an illuminated pedigree of the Cufaude family, 1621, in the possession of Mr. Chute, of the Vine, Basingstoke, the present owner of the Cuffold estate. October 16th. MR. FITCH exhibited a brass seal, with a figure of St. John Baptist, found at St. Matthew's, Ipswich: inscription, "ECCE ANGUS (sic) DEI," circa 1500; a fine polished flint celt, found at Blofield; and an iron spear-head, probably Saxon, found at Thorpe-by-Norwich, near the residence of the Rev. W. Frost, where antiquities previously reported were discovered. MR. MANNING exhibited a photograph of a fine early English wheel window, the broken portions of which were found in the chancel walls of St. Margaret's, Lynn, and reported the discovery of a small hexagon building on the South side of the choir aisle, abutting on the site of the South transept. This window, of which an illustration is here given, was perhaps the predecessor of the circular perpendicular window now in the East wall of the chancel. From the fragments found it must have been a superb wheel of sixteen lights, with a large octofoil in the centre. The mouldings, both inside and out, are richly carved with early English foliage and floriated dog-tooth. The date is apparently about 1220. DR. BENSLY exhibited drawings of some mural decoration of the thirteenth century, on the South wall of the chamber over the "dark entry," Norwich Cathedral; and of a circle, with a lion, on the plaster of the South wall of the chamber over the South-east angle of the cloister, partly covered by the floor of the chamber above. 1874, May 20th. MR. GUNN exhibited a photograph of the skull of a skeleton found on the premises of Mr. Lacey, Prince's Street, Norwich; with which was found a bone draughtsman, of Danish or Norwegian type, similar to one engraved in these volumes, (ante v. 232.) The VERY REV. THE DEAN (President) called attention to the curious hole in the roof of the nave of Norwich Cathedral: it had been supposed by the late Mr. Harrod that it had been used for the purpose of letting down a man habited as an angel swinging a censer over the congregation. In Lambard's Topographical Dictionary it is said that at Whitsuntide at St. Paul's Cathedral the coming down of the Holy Ghost was set forth by a white pigeon let fall out of a hole in the roof, a long censer being made to descend out of the same place almost to the ground, and swung up and down to such a length that it reached nearly to the West end of the church and to the choir stairs. The Dean said that in the Cathedral accounts there are frequent entries of payments for "pictura angeli," "emendatione angeli," &c., and he supposed that a figure of an angel, not a man, might have been suspended from the roof in this way, at Whitsuntide, to swing a censer. The impending destruction of Becket's Chapel, attached to the Black Friars' Monastery, now St. Andrew's Hall, was referred to, and it was agreed that a remonstrance should be sent to the Corporation of Norwich. June 16th. DR. BENSLY exhibited an earthen jar of "acoustic pottery," discovered in the upper part of the wall of the chancel of East Harling Church. It is of thin blackish grey ware, apparently of an early date, one foot in diameter, and ten inches high. September 30th. MR. MANNING exhibited an impression of a seal attached to a deed of 4th Henry VI., of Walter, Lord Fitzwalter, relating to Diss: one of the supporters of the shield is a female figure. November 3rd. MR. FITCH exhibited a brass seal, with a figure of St. Catharine, inscribed SAVNCA CATERINA, found in the parish of St. Mary, Norwich. 1875, April 6th. MR. MANNING exhibited an iron-bound coffer, or small deed chest, preserved in the church chest, Burgate, Suffolk. It is of the latter part of the fourteenth century. MR. MANNING exhibited a Saxon silver penny, of Coenwulf, King of Mercia, found at Bircham Tofts, Norfolk,Obv. + COENWVLF REX. Y. Rev. + PERNEARD MONETA, with the device of a small square inclosing a pellet, with branches from the sides and angles, similar to that engraved by Hawkins, Silver Coins, plate v. fig. 73. (edit. 1876), the name of the moneyer being different. This coin is rare. MR. GUNN exhibited a human skull, found 42 feet below the surface of the ground, at the Foundry Bridge, Norwich, near the chalk. Celts, or polished flints, are said to have been found with it. It is probably that of a female of the age of 46 to 50, and of low mental developement. April 27th. The ancient bushel measure of the Corporation of Norwich, lately found among some lumber at the Guildhall, was exhibited; and has since been deposited in the Museum. MR. ARTHUR PRESTON exhibited some autograph letters of Sir Thomas Browne, Bishop Corbet, and Bishop Hall. That of Bishop Corbet is as follows: My Honorable Lrd; Not longe after your Lrdships Election theis verses were brought mee in honor of the Chancellor; sure the man had a good meaning that made them and is rather to bee comended for his nature then his Art. It is in your Lrdships power wheather your self will read them or not, and as much in the same power wheather any else shall read the for as yet they have past no hands but mine alone, and are not in the memory scarss in the Conscience of the Author. Londinensis in Angelum Cathedræ! Detractoqz aliis. Simul creatur At nunc Mitra Togam trahit sequacem; Et Qui Templa regit Scholas gubernat; Cambros, et Catharos Vincis certamine in uno ? may all those honors bee multiplied uppon your Lrdship wch you haue allready in the wishes [The letter is addressed to Laud, afterwards Archbishop of Conterbury. He had been elected Chancellor of the University of Oxford on the 12th April and confirmed on the 28th, i.e., the day after the date of Bishop Corbet's letter.] June 1st. MR. BLAKE HUMFREY exhibited two MS. volumes of his own execution, containing the Arms, &c., of the Sheriffs of Norfolk from the year 1199, beautifully illuminated. MR. MANNING mentioned that the common bell inscription, "Dulcis sisto melis Campana vocor Mich'ls," had been explained in Notes and Queries, fifth Series, iii. 415, to mean "I am sweet in strains; I am called the bell of Michael"Sisto being the same as sum; and melis an ablative plural of a medieval Latin word "melos." The following churches in Norfolk have bells with this inscription :-Bintry, Dickleburgh, Drayton, Hickling, Narford, Norwich St. George Colegate and St. Mary Coslany, Ormesby St. Michael, Reymerston, and West Rudham. November 2nd. DR. JESSOPP exhibited a MS. parish book of Outwell and Upwell, apparently belonging to the Fincham family, of the sixteenth century, with records of earlier times, including the will of Gilbert Haultoft, Baron of the Exchequer, 1457, and a terrier of his property. The will was printed in the Society's second volume, p. 99. A further account of the book appears in the present volume, p. 177. |