I shall endeavour to explain it.

The cantell of the Churche of Worsted" is the corner of the Church, some particular angular part of it, of which the form of our old ecclesiastical edifices afforded many: but the corner is used for the persons who were wont to assemble at that corner, and who they were is manifest by the next clause, the bachelors, the unmarried men of the parish; for the window by which this cantel of the Church was lighted, was called the Bachelor's lyte. It had no doubt been made by them, it being no unusual thing to find in fenestral inscriptions, that windows were made commonly with ornamented glass, at the expense of particular classes of people. Thus, "Pray for the wel-faire of Margaret Aveison, with all the maydens of the Lathegarth, which bestowed this window, 1537." South Yorkshire, ii. 218. 1 recollect another similar benefaction, in which the "wyves" were the be nefactors.*

The persons by whom the work was made, were therefore the Bachelors of Worsted, who were wont to assemble in that particular corner of the Church; i. e. their guild or fraternity was accustomed there to assemble; and this is further shown by the expression "Than war husbonds," the husbands of the Guild, i. e. those who had the care of the common purse, and kept the accompts of the Guild.

So that on the whole the meaning of the inscription seems to be this:that the work, whatever it is, on which it is carved, was executed at the cost of the Guild of Bachelors of Worsted, at the time when Christopher Rant and Jeffery Day had the care of the common stock.

The date must be 1501, not 1550, as might be supposed; these guilds being abolished by the statute 1 Edward VI.

Those voluntary associations for religious purposes, require more illustra'tion than they have yet received. The late Mr. Hamper had in his possession the book of the proceedings of one of these Guilds, a very rare description

Instances of similar contributions of windows by the married and single classes of each sex, at South Mims in Middlesex, and St. Neot's in Cornwall, are noticed in our vol. c. i. pp. 110, 333.-EDIT. GENT. MAG. May, 1833.

of manuscript; and I have a roll of the members of a Guild at NottingJOSEPH HUNTER. ham.

MR. URBAN,

Walworth, May 1.

THE recent continuation of the Great Sewer in Southwark, having afforded an opportunity for prosecuting my researches into the Roman antiquity of that spot, I beg leave to communicate the result, which to me has been

highly satisfactory, as it places Mr. Gwilt's conjecture, formed some years since, of a Roman cemetery in Southwark, almost beyond the reach of a doubt, and further shows the extent of it in the direction north and south.

The work commenced near the Town Hall, and then proceeded southward to Union-street, and northward to York-street, at which points the sewer joins those already constructed. After the most careful investigation, I can safely pronounce the discoveries made throughout the line of work to be either of sacrificial or sepulchral remains, such as fragments of urns, pateræ, lachrymatories, and the ornamented pottery known as the Samian ware, with some few perfect specimens.

In the accompanying engraving (Plate II.) fig. 1, is a cinerary vase found near York-street.

It rarely happens that there is opportunity for minute investigation of the contents of these vessels, as the workmen almost invariably throw them out, with the hope of finding treasure; but on examining the small portion of

earth that remained in this vessel, I found fragments of burnt bones, and a small piece of a glass lachrymatory; hence I conclude it sepulchral. Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, were found near it. Fig. 2 is a vessel about five inches in height, curiously pinched into form, apparently by the thumb and finger of the potter; it has the appearance that an earthen vessel would assume if brushed over with black lead.

Fig. 3, is a vessel of stone-coloured earth, about five inches in height.

last two are usually denominated laFig. 4, a small vessel of glass. The chrymatories.

Fig. 5, a small vessel of earthenware, about four inches in height, colour intense brown.

The above-named vessels probably contained gums, essences, or balsams,

the most costly of which were employed by the ancients at their funeral rites. With these they embalmed the body if intended for burial, or fed the flames of the funeral pile, where cremation was resorted to; and it is probable that they were considered acceptable offerings to the manes the use of them is frequently mentioned in old authors, who have described the manners and customs of the Romans; numerous passages of Scripture also allude to such a practice. From the fourth chapter of St. Mark's Gospel, we may collect that some were very costly hence the smallness of some of the vessels discovered.

Fig. 6, is a fragment of a curiously formed vase; the surface appears to have been gilt.

These articles were all found near York-street, where the first indication of sepulture occurred. All the discoveries northward of this, appear to be sacrificial; these have been detailed in a former communication, in which however I omitted the very curious vessel marked Fig. 7. The drawing will materially assist the description; it consists of three small vessels of earthenware attached at the bottom to a hollow ring of the same material, fluids poured into any one of which would rise into the other two, passing through the ring at bottom. I am at a loss for a conjecture as to the use of this singular shaped vessel; but, if I were to hazard an opinion, I should say that it was used at a sacrifice. Judging from the accompanying deposits, its triune figure would suggest the idea that it had been used in some mystic ceremony; perhaps some of your Correspondents can offer a more probable conjecture.

Fig. 8 and 9, are vessels found near the Town Hall; these are of a pale stone-coloured earth.

Fig. 10, is the upper part of an earthen vase, fine in texture, and most beautifully formed on the lathe. This,

See our vol. c. i. p. 17.

from its resemblance to Fig.1, may be considered cinerarylandreta.

Fig. 11, is a bead or amulet of a vitreous substance. A similar one was found among sepulchral remains on Chartham Downs. quord

Fig. 12, a beautiful vessel of the Samian ware, most elegantly formed and enriched on the rim with a leaf much used in the decorations of the Roman pottery. Mr. Gwilt has a si milar one in his collection both were found near the Town Hall.

Fig. 13, is a fragment of black pottery, the pattern formed by a glazed black on a dull ground of the same colour.

Fig. 14, is a fine spécimen of Sa+ mian ware, found near St. Thomas's Hospital. The fragment from which the restored drawing, as shown on the plate, was made, formed about two thirds of the vessel. The numerous highly ornamented fragments found during the Bridge works, appear to have formed parts of such vessels; these I consider to have been used for sacrificial purposes, having invariably found such fragments more abundant where there were remains of animals, such as tusks of the wild boar, horns of the goat, sheep, &c.

Throughout the whole line of works these vessels have been invariably found broken, but the pieces to form the whole vessel have sometimes been discovered. It may have been a part of the funeral ceremony, to destroy them as a symbol of death; there seems to be an allusion to some such custom in Ecclesiastes, ch. xii." Because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets: or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was," &c. It seems probable that the Preacher would illustrate his subject by reference to some well-known custom.† Or perhaps

its may be accounted for by the belief entertained by the Romans, that what ever had been consecrated to the supernal gods, was defiled, not only by the touch of a corpse, but even by being brought near to one. Granting that these vessels were sacrificial, doubtless they would be consecrated, and having been used at a service at the burial of the dead, they would for the above reason be considered defiled, and perhaps destroyed on that ac

count.

Judging from all that I have seen throughout the line of the works in Southwark, I am induced to think that cremation was the most common practice with the Romans during their residence here. The discoveries, recorded by Stowe, of Roman sepulchral remains in Spitalfields, would lead to the same conclusion.

The situation of this burial-place agrees with the accounts handed down to us, that the Romans buried their dead, as enjoined by their law, without the walls of the city, and by the road side; this appears to have principally occupied an angular space between the Ermine-street, which took a southerly direction to Portsmouth, and the Wat ling-street, which branched off in a south-east direction to Dover.

Before closing this paper, I would remark, that the discoveries which continue to be made on the City side, have a decidedly different character to those above described. An elegantly formed copper ewer, recently found near the Monument, is the only vessel of that material that I have seen during the progress of the extensive excavations for the Bridge works.

Yours, &c.

sition

W. TAYLOR.

Mr. URBAN, Feb. 6. THE writer of your review of Mr. Dove's Life of Marvell (Nov. p. 435), was not entirely wrong in his suppothat some memorials remained of the addresses delivered by the "Patriot" during the debates of the House of Commons; although, on reference to Cobbett's Parliamentary History, I

do not find them so numerous as might have been expected.

At vol. iv. col. 375, are the following short observations made on the impeachment of the Earl of Clarendon, Oct. 26, 1667:

"Mr. Marvell would have the faults hunt the persons: would not have a sudden impeachment by reason of the greatness of the person or danger of escape, Lord Clarendon not being likely to ride away post."

On the 7th of Nov. following, his name again appears, merely as requiring Mr. Seymour to give his authority for a charge connected with the same impeachment.*

Under March 1676-7, is a much longer speech† of Marvell, in opposi

tion to a bill which was then under discussion for educating the children of the Royal Family in the Protestant religion; and which he opposed principally on the grounds of its being. unreasonable; and that there was no pressing occasion either to anticipate the King's death, or that the crown would devolve on a Popish govern

ment.

"Next to the King living, he would cast as little umbrage on his successor as might be; minds are in. the hands of God, who turns them as rivers of water." He proceeds to say that he "does not love to reflect on

the persons of those who represent the Protestant religion;" however, he does not let the Bishops escape some little of the sarcasm he was accustomed to apply to them. He proposes that nine physicians, instead of nine pre lates, should come to the King, to administer the test: it is a pretty experiment, just a trial whether the loadstone will attract the iron, or the iron the loadstone. *** He thinks not but physicians may be thought by a popish King as proper a cure for his soul as bishops. The chevalier de Menevicette, physician to the Great Turk, was by him made Patriarch of! Antioch." The progress of his arguments is still more extraordinary, as being directly in opposition to the change of Sovereign made by his own,

Cobbett, vol. iv. col. 385.

+ Ibid. cols. 855-857.