Proceedings of the Association. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19тн, 1898. C. H. COMPTON, V.-P., IN THE CHAIR. The following Members were duly elected : Ernest Francis Horner, Esq., 8, Aldgate Street, E.C. Thanks were ordered by the Council to be returned to the respective donors of the following presents for the library : To the family of the late Mr. Coats, for "The Coinage of Scotland", " Three Vols., by Edward Burns, F.S.A.Scot. Royal Archæological Institute for "Journal", vol. liv, No. 215. Powys-Land Club for "Historical and Archæological Collec- Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of Ethnology, for "Sixteenth Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland for "Proceedings", Royal Institute of British Architects for "Journal", vol. v, 3rd Series, 1st Quarterly Part. Royal Dublin Society for "Scientific Proceedings", vol. viii, pt. v, and thirteen other monthly parts of "Transactions". Society of Antiquaries for "Archeologia", vol. lv, pt. II. An interesting collection of articles connected with Roman cinerary interments was exhibited by Mr. Earle Way, consisting of a fine cinerary urn, terra-cotta lamps, vases, a tear bottle, and other relics. A fine example of a Celtic bronze coin was found with these remains, which bears on its obverse a representation in relief of the head of a chief, and on its reverse the head of a boar, with circular and halfcircular symbols in resemblance to what is known as ring money. The coin was found with other coins of Nero and Claudius. All these remains were found in the course of excavations in the Borough High Bowl-piece of an Ancient Pipe. Original is 8 ins. long and 3 ins. high. Street, Southwark, in a line running direct west from St. George's Church to Gravel Lane, Blackfriars, and would appear to indicate the site of a Roman cemetery, to which the dead were brought for cremation from the city within the walls on the north side of the Thames. Mrs. Collier exhibited a very curious pipe-bowl, with carving of Burmese character, but suggestive of European influence, probably derived through the Portuguese. She also submitted a small wooden box, of oval form, and apparently of Irish origin, with heraldic carving on the lid, and a shield bearing a harp and surmounted by a crown, supported on either side by quaint animals resembling a lion and unicorn. Mr. Gould exhibited a series of old woodcuts for an edition of Livy, printed in Strasbourg about 1507. A paper upon ancient houses near Halifax was read by Mr. W. D. Hoyle, and was full of interesting information concerning the families of Langdale, Lister, Waterhouse, Otes, Drake, and others locally connected with the county of York. The houses described and illustrated were Shibden Hall, Shibden Grange, and High Sunderland, all situated within a mile of the ancient town of Halifax. Shibden Hall is a very picturesque half timbered house, some portions of which are of fourteenthcentury work. In the discussion following the paper, Mr. Horsfall, of Halifax, gave some personal reminiscences of these and other old houses in the locality, and mentioned that, early in the twelfth century, Halifax was called Holyfax. The paper has been printed, pp. 17-99. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2ND, 1898. T. BLASHILL, Esq., V.-P., IN THE CHAIR. The following members were duly elected : T. J. Walker, Esq., M.D., Westgate, Peterborough. Hon. Keeper of the New City Museum, Canterbury. As Hon. Corresponding Member : Allan S. Walker, Esq., 28, Devonshire Hill, Hampstead, N.W. Thanks were ordered by the Council to be returned to the respective donors of the following presents to the Library : To the Society, for "Transactions of the Essex Archæological Society", vol. vi, pt. IV, New Series. Society for "Annales de la Societé d'Archæologie de Mrs. Collier exhibited two prints from engravings on copper by Albert Glackendar of playing-cards used in the seventeenth century, the cards being the eight and ten of swords. It was explained that in old packs of cards the suit of "swords" took the place of what we now call "spades" (and wrongly figure as such), Espada being Spanish for "sword". The Rev. H. J. Dukinfield Astley exhibited several arrow-heads and flint implements, of the Early and Later Stone Ages, found in the Thames valley, and one found near the town of Iroquois, Illinois, U.S.A., which was turned up in a field while ploughing, and is supposed to have been left by the Indians. This was very interesting, as showing the persistence of type among primitive peoples, down to historic times; also a good example of a farthing of the Irish money of Charles I, bearing on the obverse a crown with sceptre crossed, and this inscription: Caro: D:G: Mag: Brit.", and on the reverse the Irish harp crowned, and the inscription: "Fra:et Hib: REX." Mr. Astley also exhibited a photograph of a very beautiful floriated cross, of the fourteenth century, having on one side the mutilated remains of the figure of our Lord, which now surmounts the south transept of East Rudham Church, Norfolk, but being obviously out of place, is supposed to have been the village cross, from which the name Rudham (Rood-ham) is derived. Mr. J. Chalkley Gould read a very interesting paper upon a somewhat unusual subject, viz., a naval MS. of the time of James II. The MS. is in the form of a small bound volume, beautifully written, and is full of curious information concerning the ships of the British navy in the latter days of the last of the Stuart kings of England. The writer of the book is unknown; but, from internal evidence, it seems highly probable that it was prepared under the personal supervision of Samuel Pepys upon his resumption of the office of Secretary of the Admiralty in 1684, after five years of retirement, by the request of Charles II. During those five years the navy had been allowed to fall into a very calamitous condition, some of the ships, indeed, " being with difficulty kept above water", as Pepys himself wrote in 1680. The MS. is full of curious information and valuable statistics as to the size, tonnage, armament, and so forth of the ships of his Majesty's navy; and much more historical information is also to be gleaned from its pages. Whatever may have been the actual purpose of the book, there is no doubt about its date-1687 or 1688-although the MS. itself bears no date upon its title-page. A ship, the Sedgemore, is mentioned in its pages under the date of 1687: therefore the MS. could not have been written earlier, nor could it have been compiled much later, as the name of "Samuell Pepys" appears among the Admiralty officers, and he lost his berth at the Revolution in 1688. It is interesting in the present time of monster battle-ships to find that the largest ship of Pepys's day mentioned is the Brittannia, 146 ft. long, 47 ft. broad, and 1,546 tons. Amongst other items of historical interest suggested by the paper is the perpetuation of ships' names. For instance, it appears that the name Royal Sovereign, which occurs in this list, dates back as far as 1485, and it is in use in |